FutureLink Gets $10-Million Cash Boost From Microsoft

FutureLink Corp., a Lake Forest company that provides hosted Web sites for small and medium-sized businesses, said Friday it received $10 million from Microsoft Corp., in part to build a research and development lab in Orange County.

In addition to building a facility, FutureLink will open two showrooms for software vendors to display their products to potential FutureLink customers. One of the showrooms will be in Orange County, perhaps near the company’s corporate headquarters, and one will be in Microsoft’s home town of Redmond, Wash.

FutureLink operates and maintains software systems for companies off-site, running business applications over the Internet so that companies don’t have to install and upgrade their own software.

For its cash contribution, Microsoft received 1.4 million shares of preferred stock at $7 a share and a warrant for an additional 1.4 million shares at the same price.

FutureLink’s stock has fallen 81% from a high of $38.50 in March, before the major sell-off in tech stocks began. It closed Friday at $7.19, down 13 cents a share in Nasdaq trading.

“It’s an important investment for us, but it’s also important from a partnership perspective,” said Solveig Whittle, senior vice president of marketing at FutureLink.

FutureLink raised $42 million Thursday by selling 6 million shares publicly.