Carl Sagan "100 Billion Galaxies each W/100 Billion Stars"

Oussama Ammar · Subscribe · Co-Founder & CEO at Be Sport
This is so bullshit. There is always an excuse to explained why most of the companies are disappointing but empirically lot of companies proved that strong CEOs do not care about the street. Apple, Amazon & Google (Netflix?) are excellent examples of publics companies that have not been affected by been public. If most of publics companies are short term oriented and suck on the product side is not because they are public. It is because most of the companies out there just sucks.
Reply · 13 · Like · Follow Post · 17 saat önce

Louis Guthmann · ESSEC
After Apple went public, the board fired Jobs. The difference with Apple now is that they are making of money. So shareholders have nothing to complain about. Going public is a real risk for a company that must be analyzed. I'm sure Zuckerberg knows what he is doing
Reply · 1 · Like · 15 saat önce

Uyai William Ukpe · Top Commenter
but don't you think the CEO's age might matter when it comes to IPO's. look at andrew mason(groupon), he went from Billionaire to non-billionaire in weeks thanks some over inflated IPO. which i fear facebook might get
Reply · 1 · Like · 15 saat önce

Justin Card · Top Commenter
Uyai William Ukpe That had nothing to do with age. Groupon is a turd that was polished for the public, before evaporating into a fart.
Reply · 2 · Like · 12 saat önce
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Scott Spears · University of Toledo
Why is a stockholder who expects to make money "greedy"? Maybe I'm just over sensitive after all the Occupy _____ news but I'm tired of anyone who makes a profit being portrayed as bad. Anyway, I do agree with your point that going public could change the culture of FB and that would be a shame. This is the age old question that all successful private orgs have to face if they consider raising capital by going public.

Will be interesting to see how Zuck handles it; Google has managed it fairly well and hopefully FB will too.
Reply · 9 · Like · Follow Post · 17 saat önce

Josh Constine · Subscribe · Writer at TechCrunch · 804 subscribers
I agree, all stockholders are not greedy. But most companies are actively trying to make as much money as they can, so their goals are aligned with the stockholders. Facebook has purposefully restrained itself from making as much money as it could and is betting on the long-term, which may not jive with investors.
Reply · 8 · Like · 17 saat önce

Michael McConachie · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Well put Scott. Without investors desiring a return Facebook would not exist. However, I believe that the culture change in most organizations is the result of the size of the organization rather than their public financial and legal status.
Reply · 2 · Like · 16 saat önce

John Fernandez
exactly, stockholders are just investors taking a risk, and nothing more.
Reply · 1 · Like · 16 saat önce
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Prince Bhojwani · Founder & Investment Director at PBGroup
Typo second last paragraph. "He'll need to due the same"..do instead of due :)

Good article though.
Reply · 4 · Like · Follow Post · 17 saat önce

Josh Constine · Subscribe · Writer at TechCrunch · 804 subscribers
thanks, fixed.
Reply · 1 · Like · 17 saat önce

James Watson · Harvard University
Facebook 100 Billion IPO Valuation Official Statement

http://i5.cc/Facebook-100-Billion-IPO-Valuation
Reply · 2 · Like · 8 saat önce

Benjamin Kerensa · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Portland, Oregon
Protip: Don't buy shares of Facebook during IPO because the stock is just going to dip and balance out down the road.
Reply · 2 · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Gulab San Fran
Even better: short them!
Reply · Like · 10 saat önce

Jimmy Taylor · Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Why are all tech writers so naive? Advertising didn't start on the Web, and it has evolved in a similar way for 100s of years. If some of the bloggers would get out and see the world a bit they may figure out that this is part of our culture and part of many cultures. The main reason it is so important to the web is we get a better product for less $. Sure, some of these companies are not making a lot of money on ads now, but neither was Google when it first started. Nearly all their value is the prospect of selling to their user base.
If Facebook or Google ever tried to charge for their services they would end up like Prodigy or AOL. Did you know Cable TV thought their biggest value to users in the '70's was NO ADVERTISING? Now they have more ADS than Network TV. A recent survey asked readers of periodicals online if they would rather have a no-ad model v. a free ad model and almost 80% said they would rather have the service with ads. Most of the things we enjoy online would not even be close to where they are now without advertising: Apple- Google- Most Top Blogs- Amazon- Facebook- Twitter- You Tube- Should I go on? I don't think we have much choice here. I don't think Z'Huck has any more ability to change evolution than those before him...We can't always get what we want, but we may just get what we need. JT
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · 14 saat önce

Mark Rogowsky · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Works at Blammo Products
If they were really thinking long term, they'd IPO at $50 billion. Why? Because the gap between intrinsic "worth" and a $100 billion market cap is going to be severe. This is going to mean that people who buy in early face at best relatively tepid long-term returns and at worst a period of living through a price "correction" on the stock. The difference to Facebook between the $5 billion and the $10 billion in IPO proceeds is, well, noise.

On the other hand, if the company is really worth -- on a reasonable price/sales or price/earnings basis -- $200 billion in 2015, that 4x return would look a lot more appealing than a 2x one, especially because we can reasonably assume gyrations along the way.

Now, I say this in a rather pie-in-the-sky manner because the truth is the market will set the price either way, not the investment...See More
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · 11 saat önce

David Teddy Ware · Research Assistant at Artificial Intelligence Lab-- University of Arizona
"Okay then. We hold the world for ransom for...ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!" - Dr. Evil
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · 15 saat önce

Ryan Markus
Why doesn't Face Book offer a limited amount of shares directly to their user base in the interim and go public in years to come... when ready?
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · 12 saat önce

Olajide Ogundipe Jr. · Subscribe · C.E.Bro and Founder at Zapslide
I was on facebook as a tenth grader now that I am in college, I feel facebook timeline is pure genius.
Reply · 1 · Like · Follow Post · 12 saat önce

Lucas Rayala · Top Commenter · Hamline University
Lot's of opinion in here, Josh. Which is fine, of course, but it lays you open for flat-out disagreement. 10% is a small percentage of stock, Zuck will still be the primary stakeholder with ultimate sway, and Facebook has been around for ages--people (including employees) deserve the chance to cash out their investments. Zuck hasn't exactly proven himself to be a pushover, and I doubt he's going to start now.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Damiaan van der Heijde · IESE Business School
Unless Mark is diluted to under a controlling stake, the shareholders aren't going to have much influence. Even if he has less than a controlling stake, he'll have to be out voted by a lot of people who are in his side. This is a non-article.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 17 saat önce

Dean Croshere · Top Commenter · Pattaya
He doesn't have to be out-voted to be swayed or influenced.
Reply · 1 · Like · 17 saat önce

Jeff Manning · Charlotte, North Carolina
Zucks hasn't blinked on giving up his vision in favor of short sighted moves up until this point, even though he's had plenty of opportunities to do so. Personally, I don't see him selling out whether there is investor pressure or not.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Jeff Durso · Top Commenter · MIT
Steve Jobs was able to drive a contrarian vision of Apple with a fraction of the outstanding stock. Given Mark's history of keeping tight control over decision making, I doubt IPO is going to make FB suddenly a stock-price driven company,
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Tshepo Mashigo · Subscribe · CEO at Shigo Creatives
The Difference is that Facebook is a Social Network, here today gone tomorrow. There's only so much they can do.
Reply · 1 · Like · 16 saat önce

Jeff Durso · Top Commenter · MIT
Tshepo Mashigo I've been calling FB and Zuckerburg a flash in the pan for years, but I feel I've been proven wrong. FB is here to stay.
Reply · Like · 15 saat önce

Serge D. Poueme · Subscribe · École Polytechnique de Montréal
Jeff Durso Well it is hard to say if FB will last. They have been able to hold the boat the last few years. For now more and more people wants to be part of an online social networks, but there will come a time where people will focus more on being connected with a small circle of relatives rather than 1000 people you have never met and you don't talk to. The true social network relies in our contacts book and are people we interact with offline.
Reply · 1 · Like · 13 saat önce

Serge D. Poueme · Subscribe · École Polytechnique de Montréal
Facebook going public is like a "country being rated on the stocks market". FB is alive as long as people are using it. The engines of growth are the people not the changes introduced in the product. People would still be using the old version of Facebook today, it was doing the job and I doubt users ever complained and requested timeline and other features (except for privacy). Will the 800 millions users get a bonus if FB performs well? They are all FB ''blue collars'', posting and tagging day and night to keep FB alive. I see FB today as public utility, MZ should rather buy a Telecom company and push FB as a unified communication platform integrating voice and video rather than going public; it is a people company.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 12 saat önce

Nick Pendrell · Subscribe · Hurghada
If they are only selling 10% of their stock, then how much of an influence can these investors have? If they were selling 51% of the stock, then things would be different.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Tshepo Mashigo · Subscribe · CEO at Shigo Creatives
All I could think about was Enron whilst reading upon the "Greed"... "Stocks" etc... Don't mind me..
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 17 saat önce

John Fernandez
shareholders will understand this is a "different" type of company. its stock price wont go to $0 if its unprofitable because we all know its a titan already.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Josh X Mandel · Founder/CEO at Self Employed and Loving It!
$100B valuation sounds like bubbles in the valley to me. And if Facebook can put it's mantra over it's investor opinions, they have a standing chance.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 16 saat önce

Khan Manka Jr. · Chairman & CEO at Manka Bros. Studios
Facebook must be stopped - simple as that - for the good of world.

http://mankabros.com/blogs/onmedea/2011/09/01/facebook-must-be-stopped/

They just may do it to themselves (with constant changes like the last horrible redesign) and go the way of MySpace and soon to be LinkedIn - but I think they will amass enough cash to acquire other companies that will keep them going in other business lines long after "Facebook" is dead.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 12 saat önce

Jan Simmonds
Even the biggest waves eventually reach the shore and when this one does, the 500+ surfers on it, who have had the ride of their lives, will inevitably change. Like a tsunami, their journey has been magnificent but devastating, blasting through some common human values like privacy, ownership of copyright and some would argue the innocence of youth. Some of it has been good of course; we've all been swept up in the ride too... But the post IPO journey is the army you have left, now you are marching by foot and the 500+ dissipate gradually in search of other waves.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 9 saat önce

Márcio Cyrillo · Subscribe · Head of Mobile Strategy / UX Atelier at Ci&T
Facebook and great user experience? I am sorry, but then you are using a different Facebook.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 14 saat önce

Justin Card · Top Commenter
Expecting ROI is the new greed.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 13 saat önce

Saad Zaeem · Subscribe · Top Commenter · CEO & Founder at Caramel Tech Studios
Wait till 2013; who knows, the world may even end. But seriously, wait, if you can.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 7 saat önce

Richard Torcato
This will be the short of the century. I can't wait!
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 5 saat önce

Jodi Kule-Nagel · Bradford College
They don't need greedy suits running Facebook.Leave Facebook alone and let it be the Social Network!