Facebook in investor spotlight

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - For Facebook's employees and early investors, the big payday is coming. But it will not follow the standard Silicon Valley script.

Instead of cashing out via the hoopla of an initial public offering -- which CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said was a few years out -- equity holders in the social networking website get to sell their shares to a Russian investment firm.

The move marks a new trend among start-ups to raise funds by selling shares in private placements instead of going public at time when demand for IPOs is very weak.

The impending deal -- due to be unveiled in the next month or so -- will provide an important benchmark for investors sizing up the value of one of the world's fastest-growing and most closely watched Internet companies.

"It's an interesting indicator," said Adam Oliveri, a managing director at SecondMarket, which provides a marketplace for trading in private shares and other illiquid assets.

If the world's largest online social network, with more than 200 million active users, eventually decides to float shares to the public, the price that its common stock has previously traded will be a benchmark, Oliveri added.

Facebook, which increasingly competes with online giants like Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) for the attention of Web surfers and advertisers, has attracted interest from investors keen to get a piece of the action.

In 2007, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) invested $240 million (146 million pounds) in Facebook preferred shares, snagging a 1.6 percent stake.