It’s been 10 years since Microsoft invested in Facebook — now Facebook is worth almost as much as Microsoft

A decade ago this week, on Oct. 24, 2007, Facebook announced that Microsoft would invest $240 million in the fast-growing social network, expanding an advertising partnership between the companies.

It was a big deal at the time.

For one, because Microsoft had competed for the deal with Google — this was back when Microsoft competed with Google all the time — and won. But mostly because the investment assigned Facebook a $15 billion valuation that, to many, seemed shockingly high.

Remember, this was just the beginning of the mobile boom — the iPhone had come out months earlier — when people still said things like “Web 2.0.” And many thought Facebook, which had 50 million users and was not yet four years old, was at best a fad.

For instance, see Recode founder Kara Swisher’s piece at the time, which called the situation “laughable” and Microsoft “seriously desperate.”

Turned out, many people were wrong.

As we have learned, Facebook was not a fad. It was on the verge of becoming one of the most important communication products in history, and one of the best-run companies in Silicon Valley.

Now Facebook is worth $508 billion, up more than 30x from its 2007 level. It has more than two billion users, up 40x from where it was 10 years ago.

It’s hard to argue that investing early in Facebook helped Microsoft, which never embraced the advertising business the deal was supposed to accelerate. And the company’s resurgence under CEO Satya Nadella has been all about software, not social.

But it’s still one of the all-time great corporate investments.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via