Facebook has raised $500m of an expected $2bn in new funding in a deal valuing the social networking site at about $50bn or £32bn. The social networking site has reportedly landed a cash injection from the investment bank Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor.

According to the FT, this means that Facebook is now worth more than either Time Warner or Yahoo.

Facebook which has 500 million active users is expected to use the investment to fund development of new products and possibly make acquisitions, the New York Times said.

Does this now mean that each of the 500million users on Facebook are worth $100?

Facebook has grown rapidly and overtook Google as the most visited website in 2010, according to Experian Hitwise.

Read more about what this means at the full New York Times story.

Michael Mothner started working on Wpromote, a search engine optimization (SEO) company, in 2001, but he didn’t really fully take it on till 2004 after an infamous interview for a position at Goldman Sachs in New York.

When the MD of Goldman asked Michael about Wpromote, Mr Mothner replied he had had some success with the company in which he had started. To this the interviewer said, “So why, with this success, do you want to join Goldman?”

At this point Michael stood up and said, “You know what? You’re right. I don’t think this job is right for me.’”

This was the beginning of a journey that would lead Michael to being owner of a company that is on target to registered $12million in sales this year.

His decision to walk out on that interview obviously paid dividends. He could have easily settled for a comfortable desk job at the highly prestigious Goldman Sachs, but that would have been boring now, wouldn’t it?

Wpromote has grown rapidly since 2004 when sales were $500,000. In 2007 sales had increased to $6.2 million and they are hoping to rake in double that figure by the end of 2010.

Even after the economy went south, Mothner continued forward like a steam train, vowing to run the company as he would if he will own it forever.

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