Microsoft and Facebook Make a Deal

Microsoft realized the appeal Facebook has and waged a full out bidding war with Google and Yahoo to own a portion of it. According to The New York Times, Microsoft won the battle and has the privilege of paying $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the social networking service. Last year Microsoft brokered a deal with Facebook that allowed them to run banner ads in the U.S. until 2011. Now thanks to the new deal, they are able to run ads outside of the U.S. as well.

Facebook allows users to create profiles, upload pictures and send messages to their friends. One thing that sets Facebook apart from, that other networking service, Myspace is that users are able to search for people using their real names. When it first started it was only available to certain colleges and then it expanded to high schools. Now anyone can sign up and create an account.

The new business partnership with Microsoft will allow Facebook to add more employees and create their own ad service that will tailor advertisements to the interests in users' profiles.