Google has entered the race to lavish up to $1.5 billion on Facebook.
The search colossus, which already operates the Orkut social network, is seeking to cut off Microsoft at the pass and take a 5-10 percent stake in Facebook, according to a report in Wednesday’s New York Post. The Post said a deal with one of the tech giants could be announced within 48 hours.
By Wednesday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal Online edition offered a similar account, saying the deals proposed by the two companies would assign a value to privately held Facebook of about $15 billion.
The investment, expected to be part of a new funding round, would be a coup for Facebook venture capitalists, which include Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.
Facebook, with 48 million users, is expected to announce an advertising initiative in November in a bid to turn more online traffic into revenue. Microsoft has a deal to run Facebook's banner advertising program until 2011.