Investments place value of Facebook at $50 billion

Associated Press

NEW YORK

An injection of cash that values Facebook at $50 billion will help it delay going public for at least another year, giving the company breathing room to focus on long-term ambition rather than short-term profit.

The infusion — $500 million from elite investment house Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor, according to a report by The New York Times — represents the most-emphatic endorsement yet of Facebook’s potential to make money in online social networking.

It places the company at twice the value of Internet giant Yahoo and about equal to what well- established names such as Boeing and Kraft Foods are worth on the open market.

More important, it buys time for Facebook to keep its books private and not have to cater to the demands of the market.