~4000 employees generating revenue of 760m, which vendors get a big chunk of, doesn't seem super impressive. I mean it's a nice amount of income, but it doesn't seem very 'whoa..'.
All I am saying is that if investors are willing to invest $1 billion, the company should be pulling in pretty high revenues, regardless of the time they raised the money. Jeez.
Assuming the rumors were true, they could have been bought for $6bn in November by Google on ~$750mm 2010 revenue after three rounds totaling $171mm -- an outstanding return.
However, they chose to turn down the offer, and take on fourth round of nearly $1bn in Dec/Jan and (presumably) grow internationally. It's a bet by the board that they can grab land faster than anyone else.
Also, a large percentage of that was secondary, meaning it went to existing shareholders. So the actual primary funding was much less.
Edit:
Hypothetical numbers for illustration purposes only:
A invests $100M in company.
B purchases half of A's shares for $200M.
C purchases half of B's shares for $300M.
D purchases remaining A shares for $400M.
So although they have "raised" $1B, the only amount that has been invested in the company is $100M.
