Is the Facebook bubble about to burst? Early investors want out by offloading $1billion of shares - 28th Apr 2011

Early-stage investors and employees are worried the bubble might be about to burst.

A group of shareholders want to offload $1billion of Facebook shares on the secondary market in a sale that would value the company at more than $70 billion.

It would be one of the largest Facebook share transactions to date and show concern that the social networking site’s growth cannot keep pace with its market valuation.

The sellers had tried to offload shares at a price valuing Facebook at $90billion, which would have made it more valuable than Time Warner and News Corp combined.

‘At the current valuation where it is, it is really hard to justify the investment,’ said Sumeet Jain, of venture capital firm CMEA Capital, which has knowledge of Facebook.

‘It's hard to imagine it will turn into a $270billion company in the next few years.’

The current deal is awaiting approval from top Facebook executives such as CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, sources told Reuters. Read More