Should Facebook Spend More Money on Advertising?

Following the release Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) fourth quarter earnings results, which showed how much the social network had spent to boost its advertising revenue, the company took a few knocks; its stock price slipped back below $30 per share and its was hit by a slew of analyst downgrades. But those setbacks have not stopped Facebook from considering spending more money to boost its advertising.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is expected to announce a sale of Atlas — its ad-service business — to Facebook as early as next week, reported AdAge on Thursday. Microsoft has long been searching for a means to unload the division, and for the social network this could be an opportunity to acquire an advertising platform to compete with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). The terms are not yet known, but Microsoft may unload Atlas for less than $100 million, as prior bids have been in the $30 to $50 million range.