Andreessen: $500M in Facebook Revenue for 2009

In addition to launching a new venture-capital firm with Ben Horowitz Monday, Andreessen Horowitz, Netscape Communications founder and Facebook board member Mark Andreessen spoke with Reuters about his expectations for the social-networking giant’s revenue in 2009 and going forward.

Andreessen told Reuters he expects Facebook to pull in about $500 million in revenue this year, adding that the company could hit the $1 billion mark if it put more emphasis on selling advertising. But he added that at this point in Facebook’s development, growing its user base and capturing market share is more important than growing revenue.

“There’s every reason to expect in my view that the thing can be doing billions in revenue five years from now,” Andreessen told Reuters.

He added that he regretting not investing in Facebook, saying he has known its founders from the beginning and adding, “I probably could have if I had tried hard but I didn’t.”

“Generally speaking, people who are selling their stock in Facebook now are making a mistake,” he concluded.

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