New Technology Reviews!.: billion

Facebook worth $50 billion, Apple worth $300 billion

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/facebook-zuckerberg-200-200.jpg"> Facebook is now said to be valued at at $50 billion (£32.27 billion), following a new round of $500 million private investment. Elsewhere, Apple has most recently been valued at $300 billion, following a 2 per cent stock surge to kick off the new year. Cash injection The latest cash injection into the world's biggest online social network comes from Goldman Sachs and Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies. Goldman Sachs will invest $450 million in Facebook, while DST will invest $50 million, according to a New York Times' source. Both companies plan to raise an addition $1 billion in extra funding, according to the source, reportedly close to the deal. "I don't think it's a replacement for a public offering, I just think it's a mechanism for delaying it," opined Jeremy Liew, managing director at venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. Apple's latest $300 billion valuation follows a massively successful 2010, marked by the highlights of the launch of the iPhone 4 and the iPad. Apple is set to release the iPad 2 at some point early in 2011, and is also rumoured to be launching a Verizon iPhone in the US in the near future.

Facebook worth $50 billion, Apple worth $300 billion

Facebook is now said to be valued at at $50 billion (£32.27 billion), following a new round of $500 million private investment. Elsewhere, A...

Sharp spends $1.2 billion on LCD production plant, Apple alleged client

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qrU7DfAPDsEPmDLYG526gj5IlCuGoQf0ZikKBGs8H6_lJYBpdKb6TN2ywZm2Q_v4hSUR7us1XOc4-AqB-IrP62YsysoukWjeJl2K94rznqLYV5TDOpaqURAk4Gs6F5clN96OTCnOioo/s1600/iphone-retina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3qrU7DfAPDsEPmDLYG526gj5IlCuGoQf0ZikKBGs8H6_lJYBpdKb6TN2ywZm2Q_v4hSUR7us1XOc4-AqB-IrP62YsysoukWjeJl2K94rznqLYV5TDOpaqURAk4Gs6F5clN96OTCnOioo/s1600/iphone-retina.jpg" /></a></div>Some more scuttlebutt out of the Japan's Nikkei Daily suggests Apple may be investing in a Sharp-owned LCD facility. The Japanese LCD facility was built in 2004 for the production of television LCDs. It has recently been re-purposed for small to mid-size LCDs after Sharp sold off its TV production equipment. Sharp is reportedly expanding this plant to meet increasing demand for mobile-sized LCDs. Construction is expected to begin in 2011 and the plant should be ready for production in 2012. This build-out will cost about 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) and Apple is allegedly shouldering the lion's share of this cost. This rumor should sound familiar as earlier speculation suggested Apple was investing in a Toshiba-built LCD facility in Japan. According to this earlier report, Apple was investing US$1 billion into the plant, which would be used to produce high-resolution retina displays. Apple failed to comment on this story, but Toshiba vehemently denied Apple had invested in this plant. For the end consumer, it does not matter whose money is involved in building these plants. Additional manufacturing facilities will help ensure LCD production meets or even outstrips demand. If this buzz pans out, LCD shortages may be a thing of the past.

Sharp spends $1.2 billion on LCD production plant, Apple alleged client

Some more scuttlebutt out of the Japan's Nikkei Daily suggests Apple may be investing in a Sharp-owned LCD facility. The Japanese LCD fa...

Is Twitter really worth $3 billion?

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/twitter-icon-200-200.jpg"> Twitter is currently looking to raise over $100 million investment funds, suggesting that the company is valued at around $3 billion (£1.89 billion). The latest Twitter news comes courtesy of reports on TechCrunch, which claim that Russian tech investor DST Global is looking to lead the next funding round into the microblogging phenomemon. Twitter triples in value? Twitter currently has around 175 million users and has only recently introduced a <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/web/twitter-launches-new-ad-promoting-account-702062">limited ad-revenue based model</A> to generate some cash. Back in 2009, Twitter raised $100 million from investors including Insight Venture Partners, Spark Capital and T. Rowe Price. At that time, the company was valued at $1 billion. Which means, if the latest reports are true, that the company has tripled in value in less than a year. DST Chairman Yuri Milner said during an on-stage interview at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week that DST invests in companies that typically have a $1 billion-dollar plus valuation, that are in the "social Internet space," and can be located anywhere. "My guess is there are probably 25 to 30 companies like that," said the tech investment guru. Meanwhile, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams said his company was not running low on capital, claiming that Twitter has "a lot of money in the bank." Williams added that Twitter was in talks with Facebook, looking at new ways in which the two companies can work together. "We're talking to them often to see if there is a way to work together, but so far neither side has found out a way to do that," Williams told the Web 2.0 crowd.

Is Twitter really worth $3 billion?

Twitter is currently looking to raise over $100 million investment funds, suggesting that the company is valued at around $3 billion (£1.89 ...