Even a young man like Mark knows that what he disclosed at the meeting is considered critical and usually-secretive information and would definitely be leaked out, so I think Facebook guys wanted this info to be out for some reason.
The main problem is the precedent it sets. Analysts and pundits will expecting such disclosures in the future, and if they are not forthcoming, or are hedged, this is the same as bad news. It certainly would seem to indicate that FB has no plans for an IPO anytime in the forseeable future. Based on 2008 est. $50 million EBITDA and an estimated valuation of $15 billion, the implied forward P/E ratio is about 300.
gtracy
· 1 year ago
Your post's title is not accurate (and worth fixing). Mark is not the source of the leak.
One may disagree with how he manages his employees, but it was the person(s) that shared the dial-in number that showed an error in judgment. I'd bet that Mark is more disappointed in the loss of trust than he is actually revealing the numbers.
Duane Brown
· 1 year ago
Mark gave out the numbers because he has no other choice if he raises the employee numbers and they all become shareholders. If Facebook has more than 500 shareholders, they have to start reporting like a public company or do an IPO. This is one of the reasons Google had to do an IPO.... I believe.
Plus, it's his company and though most private company's done share their numbers, doesn't mean he can't or that it's a bad thing. He said he wanted to be more open after the 60 minutes piece and maybe this is his start.
All Comments
I wrote about it on my blog http://technozzle.com/?p=76
One may disagree with how he manages his employees, but it was the person(s) that shared the dial-in number that showed an error in judgment. I'd bet that Mark is more disappointed in the loss of trust than he is actually revealing the numbers.
Plus, it's his company and though most private company's done share their numbers, doesn't mean he can't or that it's a bad thing. He said he wanted to be more open after the 60 minutes piece and maybe this is his start.