Money | Facebook Microsoft Beats Out Google for Facebook Deal Company will handle international ad sales, invest $240 million By Sam Gale Rosen Posted Oct 24, 2007 5:00 PM CDT Copied Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg smiles during a talk at Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Associated Press) Microsoft has beaten out Google for the hand of fair Facebook. The much-anticipated decision was announced today: Microsoft will handle Facebook's international ad sales (it already handles US sales) and invest $240 million for a 1.6% stake in the networking site. "We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level," says Facebook's chief revenue officer. "The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is a big reason we have decided to take an equity stake, and is a strong statement of our confidence in the long-term economics of this partnership," says a Microsoft exec. Google declined to comment on any aspect of its negotiations with Facebook. Read These Next Now we know why Ghislaine Maxwell may have opened up to the DOJ. South Park episode on Trump may be a real 'mess' for him. The sheriff says he's never seen a worse case of child sex abuse. Journal pulls a controversial paper on arsenic after 15 years. Report an error