The trendiest business model of late is to sell your users. GYM (need to add to the acronym Om) doesn’t need your technology, they need your users. News and advertising giants need both.

Facebook - For Sale - Turned down $750mil because they want $2bil (that’s billion)

MySpace - Sold to News Corp - $580mil

Writely - Sold to Google - undisclosed

Skype - Sold to eBay - $4bil

(there are plenty more)

There’s no word on who offered Facebook $750 million but there is speculation that Viacom has interests in it. As BW noted, Viacom is a significant competitor to News Corp and owns such networks as VH1, MTV, and Comedy Central. This speculation would result in the addition of major marketing muscle for Viacom. Adding a social network such as Facebook gives Viacom a significant viral channel to ad to its very successful marketing arsenal. My guess would be there are no plans for integration but simply an additional advertising avenue.

Business Week | Facebook’s on the Block

tags: business, internet, web, technology