Facebook may make about 15 acquisitions next year

Facebook Inc., the world's most popular social-networking service, plans to make about 15 acquisitions next year, accelerating its dealmaking pace as it seeks engineers who can help keep rivals at bay.

“They will be a mix of talent acquisitions, where we're looking for people to run important parts of our product, who have a really strong vision,” Michael Brown, a corporate- development executive for Palo Alto, California-based Facebook, said at an event last week.

The acquisitions could be in social commerce, as well as mobile and local technology, said Brown, speaking at a panel discussion hosted by VentureArchetypes, a startup consulting firm. The six-year-old social-networking company also is focused on finding people who have leadership skills, he said.

Facebook, which has more than 500 million users, is enhancing features and advertising services to maintain its surging growth. The company's popularity has helped propel 2010 sales to about $2 billion, exceeding previous projections, three people familiar with the matter said this week. The site has vaulted to third in global users, behind Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., according to ComScore Inc., a research firm in Reston, Virginia.

The company is interested in pursuing larger, more complex deals, Vaughan Smith, director of corporate development, said earlier this year. Facebook has typically focused on acquisitions with 12 or fewer employees.

As of early August, the company had made five acquisitions this year. That followed one apiece in 2009 and 2007, and none in 2008.