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Mark Zuckerberg Asserts Control of Facebook, Pushing Aside Dissenters
- smilekzs 6y agoNon-paywall: https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-reportedly-overhauled-board-to-assert-more-control/ https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-repor...
- teddyuk 6y agoThis says that Facebook have built a test facility and if they detect the virus then they do a full genome sequence. Facebook are doing genome sequencing, this seems less than ideal.
- Operyl 6y agoWhat? Am I missing something here? EDIT: I see, you fell victim to CNET's "infinite scrolling." You scrolled into another article. Furthermore, they're not sequencing human DNA in that article you stumbled on, they're sequencing the virus. Furthermore, Facebook doesn't own this, it's a group funded by Mark's charitable donations.
- codethief 6y ago> Furthermore, they're not sequencing human DNA in that article you stumbled on, they're sequencing the virus. Furthermore, Facebook doesn't own this, it's a group funded by Mark's charitable donations. AFAIK it's the group led by Joe DeRisi[1]. For those interested in further details, there[2] is an absolutely fantastic interview with DeRisi that's worth every minute of your time. [1] http://derisilab.ucsf.edu/ http://derisilab.ucsf.edu/ [2] https://www.tested.com/old-categories/podcasts/854328-scariest-episode-yet-still-untitled-adam-savage-project-103018/ https://www.tested.com/old-categories/podcasts/854328-scarie...
- dmix 6y agoThat podcast show was excellent, thanks for sharing. Very relevant discussion of viruses with his snake story and randomly finding Ebola variations and referencing his work on coronavirus (show was from 2018). Id love to hear his views on the recent stuff that's happened. This is the perfect kind of guy you want to give lots of money to do random research and see what he comes up with. I'm happy Zuckerberg found him.
- jgacook 6y agoI often read about the divides between Zuckerberg and other decision-makers in the company, but I’m always unsure what the divides revolve around. Could anyone in the know clarify what the stakes are here? What is Zuck’s vision? What are dissenters unhappy with?
- vpner 6y agoI think the writers know these stories get traction so they just keep doing a variation on the same theme. They're not really in it to explain anything. They just want the clicks and the engagement numbers to go up. Speaking of which, I don't have a subscription and I think they paywall these things. Does anyone have a summary so we can figure out why it's on the front page?
- discordance 6y agohttp://archive.is/R3ij5 http://archive.is/R3ij5
- pdubs1 6y agoThis. This is super important to keep in mind. Thank you for the reminder. We have to remember that often, articles of "information" present themselves as such, when in reality, they're intentionally manipulative (in terms of misleading titles, etc.) simply to profit from human behavior (manipulates attention -> clicking). Sad that this is what the news & media industry has devolved into. They are driven by their own needs for people to click. Not needs to share accurate or new information... but rather, they must simply do enough to keep their lights on, regardless of presence of merit.
- gfosco 6y agoConsidering that he alone has the majority of the votes, I don't see how any of these board member departures change anything (nor does the linked text make any attempt at explaining this.)
- Barrin92 6y agobecause there is such a thing as exercising too much power. Sole empires tend to collapse so even someone like Zuckerberg despite being formally unconstrained is probably wise to not literally run the entire business without input and he doesn't.
- gfosco 6y agoSure, he gets input from all the board members, but he is unconstrained, he controls the majority of voting shares. The headline is not qualified.
- hayksaakian 6y agoI think you're missing the point of the OP If Zuckerberg undermines the leadership of his operators some of them will move on to other companies. It's not feasible to run an enterprise as large as Facebook as 1 person at the top, so you need leaders with mutual trust to execute in their department.
- gfosco 6y agoNo I think we're really missing each other somehow... Board members don't usually work at the company. They don't have Workplace accounts, or departments. The headline that this 'asserts control' is click-bait.
- alwayseasy 6y agoIt really is an article about board politics. It's a different kind of game where control isn't only about shares in the company but also about controlled assets and influence outside the company. In Facebook's case, Zuck already has control of the company but "asserts control" through strategic moves at the board level by "firing" Hastings and Bowles (who both disagreed with his fumbling on political ads). Outside the company he "asserts control" thanks to his increased acrimony towards regulators while appeasing the Trump circle. A board member who goes after Zuckerberg not only risks getting fired from the board but also getting heat from the White House. This is a very unusual situation for a company in a democracy and in the tech sector.
- ur-whale 6y agohttp://archive.is/R3ij5 http://archive.is/R3ij5
- Isinlor 6y agoShouldn't hackernews have some policy of marking paywalled articles? Something like: [paywall] Mark Zuckerberg Asserts Control of Facebook, Pushing Aside Dissenters It would be very helpful to avoid getting irritated by the paywalls. And maybe collectively we could ignore paywalled sources.
- tomhoward 6y agoThe HN FAQs [1] state that paywalled articles are OK as long as there is a known workaround so everyone can read it, even if it takes a little effort. Someone usually posts a link to the workaround in the comments, i.e.: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23030502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23030502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23028577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23028577 It's not ideal, but better than banning every site that might ever have a paywall, which, aside from leading to the loss of a big chunk of quality content, would create confusion relating to the fact that paywalls behave differently based on regions, previous site visits, click origins etc. So it's the least-worst solution. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
- Isinlor 6y agoStill, it would be useful to have an indicator like [paywall], so that it's easy to avoid paywalled articles.
- tomhoward 6y agoI think Dang has long ago decided that wouldn't improve HN, and I tend to agree. Tagging an article as paywalled would imply that it's inaccessible to non-subscribers, which isn't true; inaccessible content is banned from HN. Paywalled content is only allowed if the paywall can easily be bypassed, so tagging it as paywalled would just cause more confusion, not less. Everyone accepts it's an imperfect situation. But it's still the least-worst situation.
- echelon 6y agoHow did Zuckerberg maintain his majority voting power throughout every funding round? VCs have to look at that very suspiciously. Is it possible for founders today to retain the same level of control, or do VCs outright refuse to fund such companies? Are there good reading materials or strategies for maintaining control all the way through possible IPO? How did Travis Kalanick and Adam Neumann get removed? Did they not have the same level of control that Zuckerberg did? Couldn't they have told their dissenters to fuck off? Or could the same fate befall Zuckerberg should he fall out of good graces or become involved in some controversy?
- jedberg 6y ago> How did Zuckerberg maintain his majority voting power throughout every funding round? He had a very popular product and everyone wanted in on the action. They were willing to accept founder friendly terms so they could get in the deal.
- chrisseaton 6y ago> How did Zuckerberg maintain his majority voting power throughout every funding round? If you're got majority voting power to start with then you can at every step use the majority voting power to vote to maintain your majority voting power in any deal you offer.
- icebraining 6y agoI think the question is how did Zuckerberg manage to find investors willing to take those deals.
- buran77 6y agoIt may have been pretty clear to investors that Zuckerberg is willing to do more than most other CEOs in order to make money. Easier to ask for forgiveness and all that. Investors are still getting richer and letting him in charge may actually prove to be a benefit in case the hammer ever drops on his actions.
- 6y ago
- lowdose 6y agoWhy doesn't Zuckerberg make his goal the core functionality of his platform? > My goal for the next decade isn’t to be liked but to be understood.
- treebornfrog 6y agoNon paywall: https://archive.is/R3ij5 https://archive.is/R3ij5
- heymijo 6y agoBoard of directors are like courtiers of old in a monarch's court. They are there for the proximity to power. They scheme, connive, and work to improve their own position. In the court of Zuckerberg, the courtiers exist at his behest, and his only. The directors who forget this are banished. In other courts, the courtiers have more power because they can remove the CEO. But even in courts where all of the power isn't concentrated in the CEO, heads can roll, and sycophants can be installed. Steve Jobs' return to Apple comes to mind.
- loceng 6y agoIt's too bad Zuckerberg didn't host a very public annual roast like having jesters of the court calling him out on issues over the years.
- Lammy 6y agoThey had that but actively shut it down to silence employees with "unacceptable" political opinions: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-shut-down-anonymous-group-211638238.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-shut-down-anonymous-...
- loceng 6y agoNot exactly the same though similar - I think part of the reveal would be seeing Mark's reaction to what would be said in real-time, and then later if he addresses any of it.
- news_hacker 6y agoZuckerberg also has connections via Sheryl and her extensive repertoire. I doubt it's just him running the ship, he's mostly there for the hacker-kid personality cult.
- koheripbal 6y agoI mean... this is an extremely negative connotation. What is it based on. More generally, you could say that board members are just representatives of blocks of shareholders (sometimes representing themselves). ...and that all of them are in the same financial boat, and so work towards a common goal. We can use all the same facts to paint a much more collaborative and friendly picture. Which is more correct? Well, I suppose we'd need some facts, right? It's emotionally easier to imagine a sinister group if you're not part of that club, right?
- sailfast 6y agoThis is a small part of the article but the whole "wartime leader" trope is starting to wear thin. Can we please acknowledge it for the euphemism that it is: Total control by the executive to enable a narrow set of goals while tolerating greater losses for those at the bottom of the chain, in order to achieve a narrow, high priority objective at the expense of everything else (like "don't be evil" or "ethics")
- koheripbal 6y ago"while tolerating greater losses for those at the bottom of the chain" Who are you referring to here? Employees? Americans? Everyone in the world? The poor?
- Lammy 6y agoAll of the above? https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/facebook-employee-death-was-suicide.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/facebook-employee-death-was-...
- pc86 6y agoWhat exactly are you implying by linking this article?
- Lammy 6y agoThat Facebook has worked at least one employee literally to death.
- koheripbal 6y agoThis basis of that claim is so laughable... > There are rumors that Qin may have endured bullying at Facebook, Young said. However, Young is not an employee at the company and he said that most of the protesters did not work there, either.
- 6y ago