Goldman invests $450M in Facebook

NEW YORK, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- New York investment bank Goldman Sachs, in a deal with Digital Sky Technologies, has invested $500 million in Facebook, sources told The New York Times.

Facebook and Goldman have yet to go public with the deal that includes a $450 million investment from Goldman and a $50 million stake taken by Digital Sky, a Russian firm. The deal allows Digital Sky to increase its holdings to $75 million in the future, the newspaper said.

As part of the deal, Goldman is said to be creating a special vehicle for investors to allow their $450 million stake to be considered one stakeholder. Facebook is a private company, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission mandates financial reporting for private firms that have more than 499 investors. By pooling potentially thousands of investors into one entity, Goldman may try to circumvent the SEC's disclosure requirement.

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said the firm was not interested in going public soon, but industry analysts expect it will do so in 2012.

As a private firm, guessing the value of the company is a popular Wall Street pastime. But Goldman's investment makes it clear that one of the country's most respected banks values Facebook's worth at about $50 billion.