RED HERRING -- Apr 19 -- Privately held Facebook received $25 million in its second round of venture financing to help expand features for sharing information. Greylock Partners led the round. Meritech Capital Partners also participated, joining existing investor Accel Partners and angel investor Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal. The company, based in Palo Alto, California, has now raised $38.2 million. The site now boasts over 7 million users and is the seventh-most-trafficked site on the web (comScore) and has 72% of fulltime American college students on its network. Two-thirds of users visit the site daily. Facebook has deals in place with Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Communications for its mobile service.
Mark Brooks: Facebook is in a strong position for the future because of its focus on the most influential and illusive market segment. Traditional media are losing the 18-35 segment and want to claw it back. Watch the landgrab. Facebook turned down an offer for $750 million recently (Vivendi).
