Goldman Sachs hushed all the Facebook naysayers with a cool $450 million investment in Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking empire.

Dealbook is reporting that the Wall Street giant’s investment values Facebook at $50 billion. Goldman is expected to raise as much as $1.5 billion from some of its high-net-worth investors for Facebook.

According to Dealbook, Goldman has invested $450 million, and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm that has already invested $500 million dollars into Facebook, invested $50 million. Further, Goldman can sell part of its stake, up to $75 million, to Digital Sky Technologies whose original investment, at a $10 billion valuation, has increased fivefold, Dealbook says.Facebook shares have been hot lately with $40 billion traded in November alone through a private exchange market. The company’s value has tripled over the last year year. Almost everyone from veteran investment bankers to retail investors is interested in buying Facebook shares. But the interest from Goldman Sachs will help solidify Facebook’s worth on Wall Street.

Whenever Zuckerberg decides to take his social networking empire public one thing is for sure and that’s Goldman Sachs’ likely role as the IPO’s underwriter.