Facebook Stock Going Public? 118
zmaragdus writes "Facebook Inc. converted its existing stock holdings into different classes of stocks (Class A and Class B) designed to give certain shareholders more power than others. This has been typically done in an IPO of a company's stock to give important people (company founders, for instance) more clout in the actions of the company when stock is first offered to the public. While Facebook maintains that it does not plan to offer stock publicly in the near future, this restructuring is one of the critical steps in doing so."
Re:hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
I like this.
I enjoy this for another reason.
This reminds me of the old bubble, where companies who exist merely on advertising go public. Lots of people get hyped about it; eventually everyone realizes that it's a waste of money and the company goes under.
Hopefully history repeats itself, and like all of the dot-com bubble companies, facebook will be no more.
Re:An eIPO often seems like (Score:2, Interesting)
I would argue that AIM and ICQ are the closest analogies. Except that Facebook replaced them. Those services were designed to connect people and now Facebook does that (arguably better). Sure some people still use those services, but a lot of people just use Facebook for those things.
I guess my point is, please name the flash-in-the-pan popular sites you are referring to that have reached Facebook's level of pervasiveness in society? I only ask, because I have been on the net since '90 and cannot think of another and I am really trying. I am not saying there isn't a site out there that I am forgetting or that there isn't a site that I never knew about, but I would be really surprised.
Slashdot has been around a long time and has a dedicated following, is it a flash-in-the-pan popular site? I mean,
Re:An eIPO often seems like (Score:4, Interesting)
Twitter has a bit of a shot but I think it's a little too much of a one-trick-wonder. If there's one social-media-networking thingy today that's got serious money potential, I'd say Facebook is it.
Re:hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Once it's a public company, it has a fiduciary responsibility to bend its users over to try and get as much money for its shareholders as it can.
Here's an interesting thing they could think of. Ask users to pay a small monthly fee to see who views their profiles. Sure, it'll drive a lot of people off the site, but Facebook is so ingrained in the lives of a certain demographic that it would feed of insecurities and fears and certainly generate a decent monthly revenue. The same insecurities and fears would ensure that a user pool never disappears, since getting off Facebook would deprive you of OMG! why is Sheila dressed like a tramp!??
WTF (Score:1, Interesting)
Thanks, asshole, for referencing an article behind a paywall. (Yes, I could pay $1.99, but NO I won't. WSJ is not worth it.)
They are trying to go public (Score:5, Interesting)
Facebook is trying to go public. About a month ago, one of their recruiters was trying to get me to sign an NDA for an on-site interview; and he refereed to their impending IPO as the justification for the NDA.
I didn't sign the NDA.
Re:hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
Facebook could easily develop a microtransaction API. $10.00 = 1000 credits. Buying something in an app might cost 5 credits (aka 5 cents), which is impossible to bill for via credit card due to all the fees. So Facebook can start keeping a credit bank, and apps could debit your account based on purchases you authorize. Facebook takes a 20% cut.
Re:An eIPO often seems like (Score:3, Interesting)