Online social network Facebook may be up for sale.
The site is seeking a buyer willing to pay $2 billion, according to a BusinessWeek Online article published Tuesday.
The article said that owners of the Web site have rejected a $750 million offer.
The site was created former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.
Facebook officials, however, said that the BusinessWeek Online article was based only on rumors.
David Card, an analyst for the Internet research and consulting company JupiterResearch, said a Facebook sale is not likely to evoke a strong response from users, which include thousands of Penn students.
Though the BusinessWeek story mentioned media conglomerate Viacom as a likely buyer, Viacom Vice President for Corporate Relations Jeremy Zweig said that he could not comment on "rumors of acquisition."
But he added that "social networking is something that Viacom is interested in."
MySpace, a similar site that is more frequently visited than Facebook, was sold last year for more than $500 million.
Card said the site sold for a high sum because of its valuable youth clientele. He added that, though financial analysis is not his field, he thinks that $2 billion is a high asking price.
Wharton sophomore Andrew White, who said he has researched online social networks, added that a potential sale of Facebook is interesting because "it's a testament to how an Internet advertising-revenue business model can be successful."
Card said that though the sale of MySpace generated publicity for the Web site, he does not believe that Facebook owners are selling the Web site to gain attention.
Rather, he said that the company's sole motivation for a sale would be financial.
"I don't know what the people who founded it would be trying to achieve by selling that company," Card said.
