GSV Capital invests $6.6 million in Facebook

NEW YORK — Investment fund GSV Capital Corp. said Monday that it has invested $6.6 million to buy 225,000 shares in Facebook. The fund company's shares climbed more than 20 percent in morning trading.

The purchase was for an average price of $29.28 per share. The company did not say how big a stake the buyers got or otherwise indicate what the price may suggest about the overall value of Facebook, a privately-held company.

In January, an infusion from Goldman Sachs valued the world's largest online social network at $50 billion.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook Inc. is expected file for an initial public offering sometime next year. Publicly, the company says it has "more than 500 million" users, but that figure has not been updated for nearly a year. In its news release, GSV put the figure at 650 million, or about a tenth of the world's population.

The per-share price GSV paid is slightly below what Facebook's shares were trading recently on private stock exchanges. On SharesPost, one such exchange, Facebook shares were recently trading for $33.50 each.

Facebook did not immediately respond to an email for comment.

Facebook represents about 15 percent of GSV's total portfolio.

Shares of GSV, which went public earlier this year, rose $2.23, or 21.7 percent, to $12,50 in morning trading.