A rumor is circulating that China is seeking to buy a huge chunk of Facebook shares.

Rumor: China seeks to buy big stake in Facebook

中國財團有意收購Facebook股份

China is planning to buy a large stake in U.S. social networking website Facebook, Businessinsider.com reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source who had bought stock from former Facebook employees.

The source said he was approached by the Chinese to see whether he was able to put together a stake large enough to "matter."

Meanwhile, another source told Businessinsider.com a rumor is spreading that Citibank was hired by two sovereign wealth funds - one from China and the other from the Middle East- to acquire Facebook shares worth US$1.2 billion. An investment banker at a Silicon Valley firm confirmed that he had also heard of Citibank's interest in Facebook shares on behalf of a Chinese company.

Representatives with Facebook and Citibank both declined to comment on the rumor. Businessinsider.com said it contacted China Investment Corp., the country's sovereign wealth fund, but didn't receive any response.?

據businessinsider.com網站報道，有消息稱來自中國的基金公司有意收購美國著名社交網站Facebook大量的股份。

這位知情人士說，中方方面與他接觸讓他幫助收集大量Facebook股票的時候。

另有知情人士稱，花旗銀行目前正在代表兩家主權基金設法收購價值12億美元的Facebook股票。這兩個主權基金分別是中國和中東的。另一個在硅谷非常有影響力的投資銀行的知情人士稱，他也聽說花旗銀行有興趣代表中國公司收購Facebook股票。

Facebook和花旗銀行的代表不愿意對這個消息發表評論。中國的投資集團對于發布評論的請求沒有做出回應。