Microsoft, of course, stumped up $240m in October, giving the social networking site plenty of cash to begin any acquisitions it might have in mind.
If you haven't used Plaxo, which among other things allows you to synch multiple address books, you have probably had those irritating requests from people you barely know asking you to update your details on Plaxo.
Anyway, news that Facebook might buy it could be significant, in suggesting that the social media phenomenon has a strategy for the future that doesn't include being bought by anyone soon.
With its pie in the sky $15bn valuation, Facebook has cash to play with and Plaxo would be a good place to start.
Funnily enough, it follows a little minor spat between the two after big time former Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble tried to use a not publicly released Plaxo tool to extract his list of 5,000 Facebook contacts (I know how many?!) and export them to Outlook. It didn't work and Facebook closed Scoble's account.
It would be a handy thing to be able to do and you can see why Facebook might want to buy it.
It would give it something really rather useful (not that Vampire bites and snowball fights aren't... oh wait they're not) in a business sense, which could add a new dimension to the site.
Of course, the episode does highlight again the difficult relationship between data and ownership, which Facebook needs to sort out. It seems to be under the impression that all that data people willing give belongs to it, which is of course quite wrong. It came under fire at the end of last year for its Beacon ad service that tracks sites people visit.
Plaxo is small in comparison and might only cost Facebook something in the region of $200m and as part of that deal it would get its hands on (so to speak) the firm's CTO Joseph Smarr, who is known as a very smart man in Silicon Valley.
Another target (and one that could well sell this year if we are talking rumours) is LinkedIn. The business social networking site is also rumoured to be up for sale and Facebook, along with bigger (media) players, are all likely buyers.
Gordon Macmillan
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