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Facebook borrows $100 million

Social-networking site Facebook reportedly borrows $100 million to finance the expansion of its server farms by about 50,000 servers--"headroom" needed for the next couple years.

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Social-networking site Facebook has borrowed $100 million to help keep up with its explosive growth, according to an article in BusinessWeek.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture loan firm TriplePoint is helping the site finance the expansion of its server farms, and other infrastructure expenses, according to the report. Facebook doesn't reveal the number of servers it operates, but research firm Data Center Knowledge puts the tally at about 10,000, according to the report.

The cash will help Facebook buy approximately 50,000 more servers, giving the company "the kind of headroom they need in the next year or two," Frank Gillett, a vice president at Forrester Research, told BusinessWeek.

Facebook's site lists its membership at 70 million users, but ComScore numbers put the site at more than 100 million.

In January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that projected revenue for 2008 had been elevated from $300 million to $350 million; that's a big jump up from its 2007 revenue of $150 million. The privately held company announced plans to spend $200 million this year on capital expenditures, and Facebook's employee headcount is expected to rise from about 450 to more than 1,000.

BusinessWeek estimates Facebook's total funding at $350 million.