Confirming reports that have swirled around for weeks, Facebook said Friday that is has raised $1.5 billion from Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies. The investment fives the company a valuation of approximately $50 billion.
The Goldman Sachs deal has two parts. The first is a $500 million investment from Goldman Sachs directly, several of the funds it manages, and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment group that already owned a chunk of Facebook.
The second is a $1 billion investment from Goldman Sachs' wealthy individual clients.
On Monday, Goldman Sachs moved to limit that opportunity to only its non-U.S. clients, a decision it attributed to the "intense media attention"' the deal has attracted since it came to light earlier this month. Keeping American investors out of the pool limits the scrutiny U.S. regulators can apply to the deal.
Facebook made it clear that it was approached about the investment deal -- not the other way around.