Hefty valuation means chief could coin it in

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook netted a $6.5 billion valuation for its common shares on Monday (local time), further underscoring the fast-growing Internet social networking site's high rank among technology and media industry heavyweights.

Russia's Digital Sky Technologies said it will pay $14.77 a share for Facebook common stock, boosting its stake to as much as 3.5 percent and valuing Facebook at about $6.5 billion.

While that is below the $10 billion valuation set by Digital Sky's May investment in Facebook, which was for preferred shares, investors have been valuing the social network's common stock at less than $5 billion in secondary markets in recent weeks.