Microsoft in talks to buy 5% of Facebook for $500M; $10B valuation.
There are only a handful of companies in Venturesource to have ever recieved a private round valuing them at higher than $1B post.
Here they are:
1 Chorum Technologies Richardson, TX Communications & Networks: Fiberoptic Equipment & Photonics Out of Business
2 CoSine Communications Redwood City, CA Communications & Networks: Connectivity Products Publicly-held
3 Internet Brands El Segundo, CA Media/Content/Info.: Media, Content & Information In IPO Registration
4 Tellium Oceanport, NJ Communications & Networks: Fiberoptic Equipment & Photonics Publicly-held
5 TradeOut.com Valhalla, NY Cons/Bus Services: Business Services (Not Financial) Out of Business
6 Zhone Technologies Oakland, CA Communications & Networks: Connectivity Products Acquired/Merged
I know Venturesource has mistakes, they are missing Procket Networks for example. It's also funny to note, the two of these 6 companies are now out of business. They did their rounds in early 2000.
Nonetheless, $10B is higher than any of the valuations these guys had. This may mean that the facebook deal may be the highest valued venture deal of all time...