A rumor was flying on Friday that Box.net had turned down a $500 million purchase offer from an unnamed company.

Ashley Mayer, spokesperson for Box.net wrote in an email that Box was not commenting on the report.

The rumor was first reported Friday morning in an article on VentureBeat, which claimed the rumor had been confirmed by multiple sources. If it's true, it's hardly surprising as Box.net continues to be a very hot property attracting venture capital, new enterprise customers and high profile hirings. Earlier this year, Box landed long-time EMC CMO Whitney Tidmarsh Bouck.

The VentureBeat story went onto report that Box CEO Aaron Levie has said in the past he would prefer to take the company as far as it can go. That would suggest that he doesn't want to sell it, but that doesn't mean his financial backers are in complete agreement. In fact, Portfolio.com reported that Box's financial backers did seriously consider the offer, but that the deal was rejected by Levie and co-founder Dylan Smith.

There are enough details being reported by enough reputable outlets to suggest that such an offer might have been on the table. VentureBeat also reported that the offer was in line with company's current valuation.

If I were Levie and Smith, I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell either, especially for that kind of money. This isn't a case of Groupon turning down $6 billion from Google. It's an attempt to get the company before it really takes off, a smart move by whichever organization attempted to do it, but it's completely understandable why Levie and company want to see where this can go.

For more information:
- see the VentureBeat article

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