Facebook artists earns milllions – praise be Mark Zuckerberg
ARE we all about to hate Facebook, the 1% that aims to own information on the 100%? If a Government wanted to harvest data like Facebook does, there would a huge row. Yet we give it to Facebook and Google willingly.
Nell Jensen writes:
Facebook just released its first-ever official financial numbers as part of its filing to go public, and they’re very impressive. One billion dollars in annual profit impressive. Also: Much of humankind is hopelessly addicted to Facebook. Facebook tallied $1 billion in profit last year on $3.7 billion in revenue, revenue that has been roughly doubling for each of the past two years. The company ended 2011 with $3.9 billion in cash
Even the graffiti artist who covered over the rising damp stains and Clive Sinclair posters on the Facebook office walls, one David Choe, stands to make tens of million of dollars from your data. The New York Times reports:
In 2005, Mr. Choe was invited to paint murals on the walls of Facebook’s first offices in Palo Alto, Calif., by Sean Parker, then Facebook’s president. As pay, Mr. Parker offered Mr. Choe a choice between cash in the “thousands of dollars,” according to several people who know Mr. Choe, or stock then worth about the same.
Mr. Choe, who has said that at the time that he thought the idea of Facebook was “ridiculous and pointless,” nevertheless chose the stock.
Many “advisers” to the company at that time, which is how Mr. Choe would have been classified, would have received about 0.1 to 0.25 percent of the company, according to a former Facebook employee. That may sound like a paltry amount, but a stake that size is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, based on a market value of $100 billion. Mr. Choe’s payment is valued at roughly $200 million, according to a number of people who know Mr. Choe and Facebook executives.
Now the Walls on Facebook’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters are covered in posters that say things like: “Move fast and break things” and “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
The big winner is, of course, Mark Zuckerberg owns 24.8 per cent of the company and about 57 per cent of voting stock. He is unmovable. He can afford to move fast and unafraid. His job is not on the line.
But Zuckerbeg is Facebook’s greatest asset. Zuckerberg created Facebook. His story and his face are part of the appeal. If he went and was replaced by hedge fund managers and faceless suits, would Facebook work as well? No. It’s not a Government that runs Facebook and oversees all that data. It’s a young man. Put your faith in him. Want to buy his shares and back him when Facebook makes its initial public offering? Want to own part of what you Facebook users have invested in? Want to get on the inside?
Of course you do. Unless you want to be brave and put your money in a little known start up with dreams.
Note: Once you’ve invested in Facebook, Mark will want your ideas. Idea 1 – a “fictional anecdote” button…
Posted: 2nd, February 2012 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
