Buying Facebook's Private Stocks

This article touches on the subject of buying "stock" in volatile private Internet companies such as Facebook. The article talks about the risks and rewards involved with such a purchase. Additionally the exclusivity and difficulty of actually purchasing these types of offerings hinders the process. The most important risk that the article notes is that the financial health of a private firm does not need to be revealed to the general public since they aren't a "publicly traded" company. But on the other hand its quite possible to make large sums of money in such purchases in private firm's shares. If you were to buy Facebook shares early in their time at some secondary trading market, when the company goes private there is a great chance it's IPO will be offered at a price much higher than the price you paid for the shares. Overall these types of investments are hard to come by, risky, and sometimes very reward able. These conditions fit the mold of venture capitalist investors, likewise VC's seem to be the people involved in this type of investing.