Former Facebook exec Dave Morin rejects $100-million buyout offer from Google

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Everyone in Silicon Valley is all a-Twitter (including an #itsnotabubble hashtag) about rising valuations and big buyout offers for young start-ups.

That’s because TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington popped the news Wednesday that Path, which on Tuesday raised $8.5 million in funding, rejected a $100-million buyout offer from Google (with $20 million more in incentives). Our sources confirm the report.

Path is led by former Facebook executive Dave Morin and has a spiffy design team. A personal network that limits your connections to 50 friends, it has hundreds of thousands of users, not enormous by Silicon Valley standards. But 20% of those users are coming back every day.

Google wanted the team and someone of Morin’s stature, according to Arrington. But Path decided to remain independent and instead got a cash infusion from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers at a $25-million pre-money valuation.

Morin declined to comment. But people familiar with the situation say investors are backing Path’s decision.

RELATED:

Venture capitalist bet on former Facebook exec Dave Morin’s social networking service Path

Path, a new social network, limits users to 50 friends

Venture capitalist John Doerr makes a big bet on the next wave of the consumer Internet

-- Jessica Guynn