Facebook gets £200m boost from European investor

Facebook announced on Tuesday a $200m investment from Digital Sky Technologies (DST).

Presuming Facebook is valued at $10bn, DST's $200m comes out to about a 1.96 per cent stake, the companies said in a statement. DST would not have a seat on the board or hold special observer rights, the companies said.

DST also plans to offer to purchase at least $100m of Facebook common stock from existing stockholders whose shares have vested. The details of the plan will be announced during the summer.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement: "This investment demonstrates Facebook's ongoing success at creating a global network for people to share and connect. A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out because of the global perspective they bring - backed up by the impressive growth and financial achievements of their internet investments."

More than 200 million people use the popular social-networking service, according to Facebook.

DST, based in London and Moscow, has investments in Mail.ru, Forticom, and vKontakte.

Original article: Facebook gets $200 million from European firm from CNET News.com