Google beat out its competitors on the DoubleClick acquisition, but Microsoft has an investment of its own to brag about that week: a 1.6 percent fairness stake in Facebook valued at $240 million.

On Wednesday, the veteran software giant and the Web 2.0 darling expanded their advertising partnership in a deal that marked Facebook’s valuation at $15 billion. Microsoft’s investment makes it Facebook’s exclusive third-party advertising partner. Microsoft will sell advertising for Facebook internationally, as well as in the U.S.

According to Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms and Services Division at Microsoft, making the Facebook investment and expanding the partnership will position both companies for new advertising opportunities around the world. He called it a “great win” for both companies and their users.

“We have partnered well by the past year and look forward to doing some exciting things together in the future,” Johnson said in a statement. “The opportunity to further collaborate as advertising partners is

a big reason we have decided to take an fairness stake, and is a strong statement of our confidence in the long-term economics of that partnership.”

Courting Facebook

Microsoft and Facebook announced a U.S.-only strategic alliance in August 2006. That deal named Microsoft the exclusive provider of standard banner advertising on Facebook using Microsoft’s digital advertising solutions and the Microsoft adCenter platform. In early 2007, the terms were extended to 2011.

The deal proved strategic for Microsoft. Facebook continues to experience strong growth both in the U.S. and worldly markets; nearly 60 percent of Facebook’s users are external the U.S., according to the company. With an average of 200,000 new users registering each day, Facebook is one of the most-trafficked sites on the Net.

“We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level,” Owen Van Natta, Chief Revenue Officer at Facebook, said in a statement. “We…

Original post by John Martellaro