Microsoft and Facebook have announced that Microsoft will take a $240 million dollar equity stake in Facebook’s next round of financing. They will also expand their existing advertising partnership.

This new deal will expand the advertising to cover international markets. Under the agreement, Microsoft will be the exclusive 3rd-party advertising platform partner for Facebook.

Microsoft will begin selling advertising for Facebook internationally as well as selling advertising in the United States.

Facebook has been seeing a lot of strong growth both in the United States and in international markets. Fifty nine percent of Facebook’s users are outside the United States.

On August 22, 2006, Microsoft and Facebook announced a United States-only alliance that named Microsoft as the exclusive provider of standard banner ads on Facebook using Microsoft’s digital advertising solutions and the Microsoft(R) adCenter In early 2007, the terms were extended to 2011.

Other sites are talking about this huge development. Microsoft appears to have won out over the others, apparently Google was in the running, as well:

Facebook Takes the Money and Runs – Techcrunch

Microsoft Investment with Facebook Closes
Facebook Takes the money and runs
Microsoft Beats Google
Microsoft Wins Battle
Microsoft and Gogole in Facebook bidding Battle
Microsoft Beats Google for Facebook Deal

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