The leading social networking website Facebook has been given a market value of $10 billion (£6.2 billion) by a Russian investment firm.

In a bid to buy into the organisation, Digital Sky Technologies, the company in question, is paying $200 million to buy a 1.96 per cent stake in the organisation, in turn valuing the online tool so highly.

Commenting on the deal, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, described the deal as one which will aid his company in continuing its successes as a global network which millions of people can connect to and share their lives with.

He continued: "A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out because of the global perspective they bring, backed up by the impressive growth and financial achievements of their internet investments."

Facebook is just over five years old and is still the second-most trafficked PHP site in the world, now employing over 850 people across the globe.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.