Katie Bookey, a coordinator at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and a spokesperson for Microsoft, said in an email the purchase was about building on their existing partnership with Facebook.,”Microsoft Corp. announced last Wednesday that it will pay $240 million to Facebook Inc. for equity share in the networking site, founded in 2004.

Katie Bookey, a coordinator at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and a spokeswoman for Microsoft, said the purchase was about building on their existing partnership with in the $15 billion valued company.

"We have a history of working together, and share a common vision for the future of advertising and of the Internet more broadly," Bookey said in an e-mail.

On August 22, 2006, the two companies formed an alliance in which Microsoft became the exclusive provider to Facebook for standard banner advertising in the U.S., according to a press release.

Bookey said the discussions were about the two companies' partnership, new opportunities and new areas where they can collaborate. However, in the past several weeks Facebook's needs became more financial, Bookey said.

Owen Van Natta, Facebook's chief revenue officer, said in the press release that the relationship would allow his company to innovate and bring relevant advertising to the social network's nearly 50 million users.

The two companies plan to expand their advertising partnership, and Microsoft will be the exclusive third-party advertising platform for Facebook, according to the press release.

Facebook, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., plans to use Microsoft to sell advertising internationally. Nearly 60 percent of the social networks users are outside the US, the press release said.

Bookey said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft, was one of the spearheads of the plan to invest.

"The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is a big reason we have decided to take an equity stake," Johnson said in the press release.

Ben Mullaney, a senior in the College of Business Administration, said he uses Facebook and thinks increasing advertising on the site is not a positive idea.

"Right now there are too many applications on Facebook, and I don't think people go on the site to see products," Mullaney said.

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