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The Goldman Sachs Network

Published: Jan 03, 2011

 Finance       

The beginning of the next Internet bubble. An evil mingling of ice-cold blood. A sign that your two-year old's birthday party photos are actually worth millions of dollars.

No matter what the case may be, it's official: Goldman Sachs and Facebook are now in bed together. That is, Goldman has invested nearly $500 million in the social network, giving Mark Zuckerberg's firm a valuation of a very cool $50 billion.

What's perhaps most interesting (and disconcerting) about these two monstrosities -- which many believe add little if any social value to the lives of human beings inhabiting the planet earth -- going into business together is not the fact that Goldman will likely be the lead manager of an imminent Facebook IPO, which stands to be the largest in history, but this: Goldman is reportedly planning to offer its high-net-worth clients a piece of the action.

In a rare move, Goldman is planning to create a “special purpose vehicle” to allow its high-net-worth clients to invest in Facebook ... While the S.E.C. requires companies with more than 499 investors to disclose their financial results to the public, Goldman’s proposed special purpose vehicle may be able get around such a rule because it would be managed by Goldman and considered just one investor, even though it could conceivably be pooling investments from thousands of clients.

Despite the investment, Goldman still doesn't allow its handsomely-paid sun-hating mollusks to log on to their Facebook accounts while on the clock.

(DealBook)

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