Though he does not quite fit the profile of your typical Facebook user, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing apparently appreciates the business prospects of the social networking site.The 79-year-old chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. has agreed to write a $60 million check to help Facebook Inc. founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg build out his fast-growing business, with the right to invest another $60 million, according to the BoomTown blog. The investment is pocket change for Ka-shing, whose Hutchison Whampoa empire includes a diverse array of holdings from some of the world's biggest port operators and retailers, property developers and telecommunications operators. Forbes reported his worth at $23 billion earlier this year, making him the world's ninth-richest man.
Facebook would not verify whether the investment was made, saying it does not comment on rumor or speculation. A spokeswoman said the company is committed to the internationalization of the site, but declined to provide any details.
While an investment might make it easier for Facebook to pursue an acquisition of one of China's home-grown social networking sites, having Ka-shing involved makes it more likely Facebook will go at it alone in China or use Ka-shing's business relationships to form a partnership with another Chinese operation. Hutchison Whampoa is a co-founder of Chinese Internet media firm TOM Group Ltd.
Earlier this month, Facebook was rumored to have made an offer to acquire Chinese social networking site Zhanzuo.com (which literally translates as "Facebook") for $85 million, though the Palo Alto, Calif., company at the time denied it was pursuing Zhanzuo or any other company in China.
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, president of WatchMojo.com, a blog that covers advertising, finance and technology, said the Chinese market, and Asia in general, is key for Facebook, and Ka-shing would help "open doors" for the company.
"I think the money is secondary to the local representation," Karbasfrooshan said by e-mail. "Ultimately, Facebook might still buy its way into the market, but with an additional $60 million and Ka-shing on board, they'll have more leverage in talks."Facebook in October received a $240 million investment from Microsoft Corp. The investment gave the Redmond, Wash., company a 1.6% stake in the company, valuing the property at a robust $15 billion.
Other Internet companies have struggled in their attempts to enter China, something Facebook no doubt has seen as well. Yahoo! Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., in 2005 rolled its Chinese operations into Hangzhou, China-based Alibaba Group, operators of Alibaba.com,
while eBay Inc. of San Jose, Calif., last year partnered with the TOM Online 
when its own auction business struggled. Even mighty Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., trails homegrown Baidu.com
of Beijing for search supremacy in China.Facebook's task for 2008 is proving it is worth a $15 billion valuation. It recently introduced a new targeted advertising program that allows companies to better serve ads to Facebook users based on their habits and what their friends are buying. The company is projected to have revenue of between $75 million and $100 million this year.
According to comScore Media Metrix, Facebook.com was the 16th most visited site in the United States in October with 32.9 million unique visitors. Though it still trails News Corp.-owned MySpace.com and its 72 million unique visitors, Facebook's year-over-year growth was 118% against 28% for MySpace.
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