T. Rowe Price's [see profile] mutual fund shareholders have gained access to some hot, privately-held companies, generating lots of media buzz for the mutual fund firm. The Baltimore Sun's Andrea Walker reports that in the first quarter the Baltimore-based fund firm invested $190.5 million from 19 of its funds into Facebook, $86.8 million from five funds into Groupon, $71.8 million from five funds into Zynga, $66.6 million from three funds into Twitter, $35.3 million from three funds into Angie's List and $10.3 million from three funds in Ning.

"We there is tremendous opportunity, but in this business, tremendous opportunity comes sometimes with significant risk," warned T. Rowe spokesman Edward Giltenan.

T. Rowe's new investment in Facebook (it also invested in the social network back in 2009) in particular is winning lots of media attention: Investor's Business Daily, the LA Times, MarketWatch, the New York Times, Reuters, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, vatornews and VentureBeat 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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