TOKYO (Reuters) -Facebook Inc founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed his company’sindependent spirit on Monday, after a report the social networking sitemight be sold to software giant Microsoft, which is hunting for ways tobeef up its Internet business.
"You can tell, from our history and what we’ve done, that we reallywanted to keep the company independent, by focusing on building andfocusing on the long-term," Zuckerberg told Reuters while in Japan tolaunch a Japanese language version of Facebook.
Microsoft already has a small stake and the Wall Street Journal saidthis month the software giant, having failed in its $47.5 billion bidfor Internet portal Yahoo Inc, had approached Facebook to gauge itsinterest in a full takeover.
Asked specifically about the prospect of a sale, Zuckerberg declined to comment.
Microsoft has not given up on a deal with Yahoo, saying on Sunday it had proposed an alternative plan to Yahoo.
Facebook, founded by Zuckerberg when he was at Harvard University in2004, has become one of the hottest properties on the Internet becauseof its strong loyalty among the more than 70 million users who swappictures, messages and virtual gifts.
Microsoft took a $240 million stake in Facebook in October last year, a purchase that valued the start-up at $15 billion.
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing recently put $120 million into thecompany and smaller investors have contributed another $15 million.
Zuckerberg, in the past, has resisted selling the entire company, opting to work towards an initial public offering.
Facebook is launching a Japanese website to try to lure users inJapan’s online networking market, which is currently dominated byJapanese firm Mixi Inc, which has more than 10 million users and an 80percent share of Japan’s 44 billion yen ($422 million) socialnetworking market.
Zuckerberg said he was confident that Facebook could lure Japaneseusers as its services differed from its rivals as users gave their realnames.
"The biggest thing about Facebook is that it’s real names and realpeople," Zuckerberg said, adding that made his site more trusted.
He said Facebook was planning to launch a Japanese language service on cellphones, an area Mixi is already active in.
($1=104.17 Yen)
(Editing by Rodney Joyce)
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