Facebook announced Tuesday that it had sold a nearly 2 percent stake to Moscow-based Digital Sky Technologies in a deal that values the social networking site at $10 billion.

Facebook, which had struggled to finance its expansion plans amid the global economic crisis, said Digital Sky Technologies, or DST, would pay $200 million for 1.96 percent in preferred shares in the social network.

The last significant stake sale, to Microsoft in late 2007, valued Facebook at $15 billion.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was important to note that the Microsoft deal was part of a larger partnership with the company.

"That was a strategic partnership with a lot of different components. That was a year and a half ago, when the market was at its peak," Zuckerberg said during a conference call.

Under Tuesday's deal, DST will also purchase at least $100 million in common stock from current and former employees under an arrangement that will be announced this summer.

As with previous investors, the sale will not give DST the right to be represented on the Facebook board or to hold special observer rights.

DST CEO Yury Milner said that was fine with him. "I have my own business to run. This is just an investment," he said during the conference call.

The two CEOs sang each other's praises, explaining why the deal was a perfect fit for both. "We are taking a long-term view, which is important in early-stage businesses like the -Internet," Milner said. "Facebook has the potential to be one of the most valuable Internet companies globally."

Zuckerberg said DST's experience in the international market would be particularly important to Facebook, 70 percent of whose users are outside of the United States.

"A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out because of the global perspective they bring," said Zuckerberg. "We found their thinking and leadership very impressive."

Zuckerberg said DST's experience in including paid-for features in otherwise free sites such as the social network Odnoklassniki were particularly attractive to Facebook.

"DST has a large number of social networks that monetize in different ways, and all of them are effective," he said. "Each one of them is growing well. We can see the levels of monetization that these networks have generated over the years and apply them to Facebook."

Facebook currently has 200 million active users.

A DST source said Tuesday's deal had been a long time in the making. "The negotiations have taken months, and we know there were other bidders besides us," the source said. "However, we consider that Facebook preferred Digital Sky Technologies because we very well understand the social networks."

The source said DST had not decided how many common shares in Facebook it would buy in the summer.

DST also owns Mail.ru, Russia's largest web site, and its main assets account for more than 70 percent of all page views in the Russian-speaking Internet. It estimates that its social networks are the market leaders in more than 13 countries, covering a combined population of more than 350 million.

DST, a privately held company with offices in Moscow and London, is run by its three partners, Milner; Gregory Finger and Alexander Tamas.

Facebook is also privately held and has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California.