China Wants a Piece of the Facebook Pie

Reports have surfaced that China wants in on Facebook stock. According to these reports, China wants to own enough Facebook stock "to matter", which indicates that they're even willing to buy a substantial amount. The interested group though comprises a sovereign wealth fund that isn't necessarily a government organization. It could either be a government sponsored group of venture capitalists interested in owning a piece of Facebook through its upcoming IPO or something else much bigger behind the scenes.

Will Facebook survive in China?

In the same reports, it's mentioned that Citibank is also trying to get in on Facebook ownage. They're trying to acquire $1.2 billion worth of Facebook stock on behalf of two sovereign wealth funds from China and the Middle East. This of course, brings up Facebook's self debate of whether to expand in China or not. An argument on one side of the debate is whether the company should give in to oppressive demands just for money and the other side is that Facebook should be an agent of social change. However, now that China's buying "enough stock to matter", maybe Facebook will be forced to change itself in the country, giving into "oppressive demands".