Something weird happened this morning. I woke up, and had this really strong feeling that Google will buy Facebook. The reasons this could happen:

1. Google raised $2bn in cash recently - which is roughly the amount Facebook would sell for (ie their asking price). Regardless, Google has enough cash to make some serious acquisitions.
2. Google is making conscious efforts to move in to the ’social networking’ space, witness the Joga JV with Nike. They already have Orkut.
3. Facebook could provide a great mechanism to distribute targeted ads - by geography and by interest. Zuckerberg mentioned they will do this when they move to monetising the site further.
4. Facebook generates a heck of a lot of page views, ranked 7th worldwide according to Comscore Media Metrix, and who else in the world can monetise them better than Google?
5. Facebook originated as a utility for college students, in that sense, it is compatible with Google’s mission to “organise the world’s information” - i.e. information about the contacts and relationships you build up in college. Check out this passage from RedHerring:

“We’re a utility and not a media property or a destination.” (Zuckerberg) contended Facebook’s purpose is “helping people get information about their world and the people around them,” rather than be an online hangout spot.

So you have one company that can generate over 5 billion page views a month, and another company that probably has the world’s largest database of online advertisers and the mechanism to deliver these in a targeted fashion…why wouldn’t they?

Update: I’m obviously behind the curve, people have been talking about this since last month!

Posted on April 22