"...and a massive stock valuation. They can make acquisitions of key technology and talent without spending much." I don't agree with this. There's no liquidi

"...and a massive stock valuation. They can make acquisitions of key technology and talent without spending much." I don't agree with this. There's no liquidity in the stock, and just because MSFT thinks the company should be valued at $15B, I don't see why I should, or should expect anyone else to. Wouldn't a $15B valuation make their (newly-issued) stock options _less_ attractive to new employees, since they would only be in-the-money if Facebook IPO'd with a (kinda high) $15B valuation by the public markets? It's a bit of a different question for acquisitions, in which they can trade stock outright. Still, to do a deal, it seems they'll have to buy at very high valuations, giving their own highly-valued stock out in return. So it should still cost them (about) the same %age of FB to acquire a company post- and pre-investment. It's certainly not _bad_ to raise a quarter-billion dollars in exchange for 1.6% of the company, but I don't see how this makes their stock much more valuable to an independent observer; without liquidity, it's still anyone's guess. Granted, people will probably guess higher now, but I still don't see that valuation as a free ride to low expenses.