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

中国财团有意收购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. 

据businessinsider.com网站报道，有消息称来自中国的基金公司有意收购美国著名社交网站Facebook大量的股份。

这位知情人士说，中方方面与他接触让他帮助收集大量Facebook股票的时候。

另有知情人士称，花旗银行目前正在代表两家主权基金设法收购价值12亿美元的Facebook股票。这两个主权基金分别是中国和中东的。另一个在硅谷非常有影响力的投资银行的知情人士称，他也听说花旗银行有兴趣代表中国公司收购Facebook股票。

Facebook和花旗银行的代表不愿意对这个消息发表评论。中国的投资集团对于发布评论的请求没有做出回应。