Facebook hires Google executive to lead M&A efforts
15 Mar 2011
Social networking company Facebook has hired a member of Google's corporate development team to lead its fledgling merger and acquisition efforts, stealing a march over rival Google.
Amin Zoufonoun, a director of corporate development at Google, would join Facebook next week, Reuters reported quoting sources at Facebook.
The development comes against the backdrop of Facebook stepping up its acquisitions, which till date have been small startups bought for engineering talent rather than actual products.
According to industry sources, Facebook could be expected over time to go for bigger and bigger deals, given they had the stock and cash to do those kinds of things.
The privately held company had recently raised $1.5 billion from investors, including Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies, as also through a private offering to overseas investors through Goldman Sachs, valuing itself around $50 billion.
According to a CNBC report, earlier this month, investment firm General Atlantic acquired a stake in Facebook at a $65 billion valuation.
Zoufounoun's biography on LinkedIn states that he has been with Google since 2003. He will now report to Facebook's Vaughan Smith, who oversees the company's overall corporate development efforts. However, Zoufonoun would be the key person tasked with coordinating Facebook's M&A efforts and hiring additional people for the M&A team, according to a source.
