Multiply Gets $5 Million and a $100 Million Valuation

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation has purchased $5 million in stock in the social networking company Multiply ABS-CBN News. The purchase gives the social networking company a $100 million valuation, a far cry from the $15 billion valuation that Facebook obtained earlier this year when Microsoft invested in the company.

According to the company, “Multiply is a natural fit for ABS-CBN. It is the social network that is most consistent to our business model because they have focused on photo, video and blog features compared to the other social networks such as Friendster and Facebook, which focus on connecting friends and running applications.” I’m not quite sure I agree with the company’s distinction but ok.

I think the alignment comes more from the Asian media company’s geographic location (Philippines) which compliments Multiply’s user demographics. Regardless of why the two companies have aligned, it illustrates how the convergence between traditional and social/new media continues. Facebook has only approximately 286,000 users in the Phillipines whereas Multiplay has around 3 million.

For more information on the investment check out the ABS-CBN News article.