Re: #1, this is a part of a reasonable answer to "How are they worth so much?" - the purchase of Instagram was made "roughly 30 percent in cash and 70 percent in stock[1]", meaning that the $1B was really ~$300M in cash and a bit under 1% of Facebook.
Maybe that still looks high, but it's certainly not as outrageous as a billion dollars. The bit that makes it look crazy is Facebook's valuation at nearly $100 per active user.
Maybe that still looks high, but it's certainly not as outrageous as a billion dollars. The bit that makes it look crazy is Facebook's valuation at nearly $100 per active user.
1: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/with-instagram-deal-f...