In a rare peek into Facebook’s finances, Santa Clara County records show that the social networking giant spent at least $116 million buying business equipment like laptops, servers and furniture last year, an eye-popping spree that was nearly three times more than the previous year.
The tax data, compiled yearly by the Santa Clara County Assessor, provides a fascinating window into the relentless reordering of the tech hierarchy in Silicon Valley. Powerhouses like Facebook, Google and Apple, benefiting from their expertise in “cloud” computing and the mobile Web, have a presence in the valley that now rivals and often surpasses longtime stalwarts like HP, Applied Materials and Intel.
Facebook didn’t rank among the county’s top 40 business personal property values in 2010. By workforce, it is tiny compared to a Cisco or Yahoo. But its 183 percent jump in personal property value over the course of the year places the social network 11th in total equipment value, right behind HP.
The newly published $29.6 billion personal property list for 2011 includes a good sign for the local economy. The combined value of equipment owned by more than 32,000 local businesses was up 2.54 percent over 2010, partly reversing the 7.64 percent drop between 2009 and 2010 — the worst performance since the dot-com bust.
Facebook is widely expected to hold a public offering of stock sometime in 2012. Until then, vital statistics like the company’s sales and business model are hidden from public view. But not Facebook’s tax bill. The value of its computer hardware and many kinds of software, along with furniture and other equipment, is $179 million, up from $63 million in 2010. Cisco became the first company to top $2 billion in personal property value this year, followed by aerospace manufacturer Lockheed at $719 million, Google at $652 million and Apple at $480 million.
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