4 ms·

Am I reading this wrong, or there's generally a negative attitude towards this news? It seems that people are upset that a 27 year-old, who's worth ~30Bn on pa

Am I reading this wrong, or there's generally a negative attitude towards this news? It seems that people are upset that a 27 year-old, who's worth ~30Bn on paper, could buy a 1Bn dollar company for breakfast without any adult supervision. The negativity weirds me out. Aside for the personality traits, why doesn't everyone want to be where Zuck's at? In my opinion, no one should be asking "why Zuck was able to do it", but rather ask "what should I do to be in the position to do the same?"

joezydeco 15y ago
I see some negativity, but I also see some head scratching. My response is the latter. No matter your net worth, even Warren Buffet would do a bit more footwork before deciding to wake up one morning and spend a billion dollars on something. Perhaps Zuck would have found out that Sequoia just valued the company for 25% of the price Systrom was asking? Or do you think the mere act of starting a larger disclosure process would get leaked out and shoot the value up to 1 billion anyway?
- prewett 15y ago
  Actually, Warren Buffet is known for deciding to by companies within in a 10 minute phone call. (But that's because he is always researching companies, so he knows what a good one looks like)
  - sireat 15y ago
    Most famously, he was following IBM for 50+ years until he decided time was right to purchase.
gavinlynch 15y ago
You're not reading it wrong. People are looking for a reason to be negative because they are predisposed.
kirillzubovsky 15y ago
Just to further extend this point, I feel that PG's comment - "closed -> negotiated" - hasn't gotten enough attention. Think about this. Not only Zuck changed the rules on control (taking as much power as he could in his hands), he's also changed the way M&A talks are conducted, thereby helping all of us who are still working towards our first billion. Think how often you hear stories of M&A deals fall through because large companies end up screwing entrepreneurs. Now, if the new standards for negotiation is 3 days, more people would be able to sleep at night. After all, you can now confidently go in, name a price, negotiate on it for an hour, and then close and go one with your life, building a stronger company. Isn't it what you'd want anyway?

joezydeco 15y ago

I see some negativity, but I also see some head scratching. My response is the latter. No matter your net worth, even Warren Buffet would do a bit more footwork before deciding to wake up one morning and spend a billion dollars on something. Perhaps Zuck would have found out that Sequoia just valued the company for 25% of the price Systrom was asking? Or do you think the mere act of starting a larger disclosure process would get leaked out and shoot the value up to 1 billion anyway?

prewett 15y ago
Actually, Warren Buffet is known for deciding to by companies within in a 10 minute phone call. (But that's because he is always researching companies, so he knows what a good one looks like)
- sireat 15y ago
  Most famously, he was following IBM for 50+ years until he decided time was right to purchase.

gavinlynch 15y ago

You're not reading it wrong. People are looking for a reason to be negative because they are predisposed.

kirillzubovsky 15y ago

Just to further extend this point, I feel that PG's comment - "closed -> negotiated" - hasn't gotten enough attention. Think about this. Not only Zuck changed the rules on control (taking as much power as he could in his hands), he's also changed the way M&A talks are conducted, thereby helping all of us who are still working towards our first billion. Think how often you hear stories of M&A deals fall through because large companies end up screwing entrepreneurs. Now, if the new standards for negotiation is 3 days, more people would be able to sleep at night. After all, you can now confidently go in, name a price, negotiate on it for an hour, and then close and go one with your life, building a stronger company. Isn't it what you'd want anyway?