Venture Beat 29 May 2012
Facebook’s rumored interest in purchasing facial recognition startup Face.com may become a reality thanks to some help from an unlikely source.
Russian-based search engine Yandex is said to be mulling the sale of its share in Face.com to the social giant, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti (Google Translate). Yandex, along with investment firm Rhodium, invested $4.3 million in the startup for a 18.4 percent stake of Face.com and an arrangement to add Yandex’s CEO Arkady Volozh to its board of directors.
Yandex is interested in a combination of cash and Facebook stock for its stake in Face.com, according to Vedomosti’s report.