Until recently, Facebook was thought to be worth around $15 billion, at least considering Microsoft’s $240 million investment in the social network, which meant a 1.6 percent stake. But that is far, far from reality, according to court documents dating back in June this year.

 

The Associated Press has obtained transcripts of court documents from the legal dispute with ConnectU. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was accused by his former classmates and ConnectU founders Divya Narendra and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss of stealing their idea upon creating the now popular social networking site.

 

As it appears, the three hired Zuckerberg to help create a dating site, but Zuckerberg allegedly compromised their project to create his own site, which later brought him an estimated $1 billion.

 

Microsoft’s partnership with Facebook implied the company was worth $15 billion, and $35.90 per share, but it now looks like it has been greatly overrated. According to Facebook’s own estimations, resulting from the court documents obtained by AP, one share is worth only $8.88, which adds up to roughly $3.7 billion in value.

 

Neither Facebook, nor Microsoft were available for comments on the court revelations, however, the new figures suggest ConnectU may have received less from Facebook in the court settlement, depending which of the two financial estimations was taken into consideration.

 

It was obviously in Facebook’s best interest not to post a significant value for its shares, as it would have also meant paying more to ConnectU. We are still waiting for Microsoft’s take on this one.