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Web kid with attitude says sucks to $1bn
UK Times ^ | 17 December 2006 | Paul Durman

Posted on 12/17/2006 8:34:20 AM PST by shrinkermd

AT 22, Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout, is being labelled as the next Bill Gates. But even the Microsoft founder might have hesitated before blowing the chance of a $1.6 billion (£819m) offer for his fledgling business.

Zuckerberg, founder of the Facebook social networking website, has told Yahoo!, the internet giant, that $1 billion is not enough to sell out. Now leaked documents suggest that Yahoo! was willing to raise its bid to $1.6 billion.

Facebook, which he launched as a service for Harvard students in 2004, has become the seventh busiest website on the internet, and with 13m users is the second biggest social network in America.

It has also become popular on British campuses, partly because it allows users to ensure that only people from their own university or place of work are put in touch.

However, it has also been blamed for carrying abuse about students and tutors. In one case, an Oxford University don found that someone had created a false profile in his name, claiming that he had been a member of the Hitler Youth. Although Facebook does have a facility to report unpleasant comments, few universities have the resources to patrol its pages.

There have also been warnings that students who post embarrassing personal material on the site could find it being used against them by future employers.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: dropout; facebook; harvard; markzuckerberg; zuckerberg
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Even those who drop out of Harvard (Bill Gates included) seem to do quite well.

In the meantime Facebook proves who isolated and alone young people are. Lacking traditional social groupings to make contact they now rely on the Internet. This is bound to have an effect on society, but what no one has quite determined as of yet.

1 posted on 12/17/2006 8:34:22 AM PST by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd

I'm sorry - did somebody just turn down $1.6 BILLION for an f'ing website?


2 posted on 12/17/2006 8:37:21 AM PST by flintsilver7
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To: shrinkermd
Dude, you turned down $1 billion? Harvard should have kicked you out before you dropped out.


3 posted on 12/17/2006 8:45:58 AM PST by operation clinton cleanup
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To: flintsilver7
Mebbe he dropped out before they explained how much a billion is.
4 posted on 12/17/2006 8:46:11 AM PST by steveo (ADVERTISEMENT)
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To: flintsilver7

Try to buy Google for $1 billion. Some websites are worth a lot of money.


5 posted on 12/17/2006 8:46:16 AM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: flintsilver7

I predict this will be a b school case study of how not to do business.

Dude, take the money and run ! In another year your website will be worth very little as the fickleness of modern youth leaves you behind.


6 posted on 12/17/2006 8:50:16 AM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: shrinkermd
However, it has also been blamed for carrying abuse about students and tutors.

There have also been warnings that students who post embarrassing personal material on the site could find it being used against them by future employers.

How is that different than anything else on the internet?

If anything it's better, because there's recourse for correction and liability claims. Any other website could be so far out of reach -- somewhere in Estonia or run by people who don't care or have criminal interests.

This is just more whining about free speech. (Namely, that it's free. "Damn! something we can't control!")

7 posted on 12/17/2006 8:51:55 AM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: shrinkermd

Right now it's his baby, no matter the value. He probably enjoys running it. Yeah, he could take the money but then his baby would be someone else's adopted child. It'a a paternal thing ;)


8 posted on 12/17/2006 8:52:58 AM PST by Libertina
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To: shrinkermd

9 posted on 12/17/2006 8:54:55 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (A liberal is a suicide bomber without the guts)
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To: cinives

Hard to say if it will maintain popularity or not. Myspace reportedly has 106,000 members and doesn't appear to be slowing down. It doesn't look like facebook is either. But rest assured if I had created it and was offered 1 billion I would have cashed the check before yahoo had time to think about it.


10 posted on 12/17/2006 8:55:17 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You know, Happy Time Harry, just being around you kinda makes me want to die.)
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To: Alter Kaker

Hell, EBAY makes 1+ billion PROFIT a year.


11 posted on 12/17/2006 8:55:50 AM PST by Lokibob (Spelling and typos are copyrighted. Please do not use.)
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To: cinives

"I predict this will be a b school case study of how not to do business.

Dude, take the money and run ! In another year your website will be worth very little as the fickleness of modern youth leaves you behind."

lol my thoughts exactly. Reminde me of that Simpsons ep. where Homer holds all of his stock in pumpkins until november...


12 posted on 12/17/2006 8:58:51 AM PST by The Worthless Miracle (I think Jamie Dupree is annoying.)
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To: Lokibob

In the article they say that's what Yahoo estimates this social web page will make- one billion a year.

I'd still take the money though...


13 posted on 12/17/2006 8:59:33 AM PST by mrsmith
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To: Mr. Blonde

This site has become popular because myspace has perceived problems with predators and viruses etc.


14 posted on 12/17/2006 9:00:15 AM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: shrinkermd

I dunno about this one. One billion would work for me. OTOH, if someone is offering him that much for his fledgling business now, they must see it as being worth a lot more down the road to make an offer like that. If Bill Gates had done that, he wouldn't be worth what he is now. It's a risk you have to take but he may really be smart in turning it down. I hope he knows what he's doing to keep it running.


15 posted on 12/17/2006 9:12:33 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Mr. Blonde
Myspace reportedly has 106,000 members

Make that 120 million. Of course, a percentage of those are zombie profiles and spam sources.

16 posted on 12/17/2006 9:15:34 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ("When the government is invasive, the people are wanting." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: The Worthless Miracle

Assuming you all are wrong, he could be worth $3, 5, 8 billion in a few years.

Assuming you are right, he has 2 shots at $1.6 billion (or 2 billion), once on the way up, and then on the way down. Just makes sense to me to turn it down.


17 posted on 12/17/2006 9:16:22 AM PST by Lokibob (Spelling and typos are copyrighted. Please do not use.)
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To: Alter Kaker

And of course, Google is the rule, not the exception.

Social networking comes and goes. $1 billion a year in profit (according to Yahoo, supposedly) won't go on indefinitely. Chances are, you'll make more by simply conservatively investing your $1.6 billion.

Remember the web of recent memory? Whatever happened to Napster? Will iTunes go on indefinitely? You can take the Google route and simply "adapt" another's technology (Altavista).

This kid would be very smart to take the money and run. Be a billionaire and never have to work again.


18 posted on 12/17/2006 9:27:18 AM PST by flintsilver7
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To: flintsilver7
Google didn't steal Alta Vista's technology. I remember Alta Vista -- Google is a substantially better product. Look, there are a lot of worthless internet companies out there. And there are also a number of internet successes.

Facebook has 90%+ penetration of the college market, the most valuable consumer demographic there is. That's worth an insane amount of money. Is Facebook a passing fad? Possibly. But social networking is a valuable commodity that's here to stay. In any event, the comparison to Napster is bizarre -- Napster was shut down by a court order, not by changing fashions. That's unlikely to happen to Facebook.

19 posted on 12/17/2006 9:32:56 AM PST by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: shrinkermd
Reminds me of the time the creator of Cool.com turned down an offer of $7 million to buy his site.

A billion dollars for a website? I would have signed the deal in blood and bought a South Pacific island.

20 posted on 12/17/2006 9:36:40 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Why can't Republicans stand up to Democrats like they do to terrorists?)
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