Search Results for: Facebook

How Goldman Sachs Blew the Facebook IPO

Longreads Pick

An inside look at how banks jockey for “left lead” status on an IPO—especially one as big as Facebook’s:

“For the past couple of decades, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have ruled the tech IPO business, with one of the firms serving as lead manager on most of the hottest deals.

“Goldman took Microsoft, Yahoo, and eBay public, for example. Morgan won Netscape and Google. Although other firms have picked off an occasional deal over the years, when it comes to tech banking, Goldman and Morgan remain in a class by themselves. To be sure, having Morgan or Goldman take you public is no guarantee of success—they’ve banked plenty of dogs. But going public without Morgan or Goldman means signaling that you weren’t good enough for Morgan or Goldman. In other words, that your company is second-rate.

“In the last few years, though, there has been a shift in the Morgan-Goldman power balance in the Valley. Specifically, until very recently, Morgan Stanley has won almost all of the hot IPOs.”

Published: May 9, 2012
Length: 21 minutes (5,485 words)

BuzzFeed, the Ad Model for the Facebook Era?

Longreads Pick

Inside the social media factory created by former Huffington Post cofounder Jonah Peretti—how they’ve cracked viral content, invested in original content, and made money:

“At around 5 p.m., Stopera published ’48 Pictures That Perfectly Capture the ’90s’ on BuzzFeed. ‘These pictures are all that and a bag of chips!’ he wrote at the top of the list. A BuzzFeed visitor with an appetite for ’90s nostalgia could scroll down, gawk at the 48 retro images, read the deadpan captions, recall Bob Saget, Tipper Gore, and Scottie Pippen, laugh at the crazy fashion, and resurface to the present day in a matter of minutes. It racked up 1.2 million page views.”

Source: Businessweek
Published: Mar 22, 2012
Length: 12 minutes (3,208 words)

Why Facebook Needs Sheryl Sandberg

Longreads Pick

“There are compromises on not being in China, and there are compromises on being in China. It’s not clear to me which one is bigger,” she says. Three people familiar with these internal deliberations say that Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg fundamentally disagree on the issue. Zuckerberg believes that Facebook can be an agent of change in China, as it has been in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. Sandberg, a veteran of Google’s expensive misadventures in the world’s most populous country, is wary about the compromises Facebook would have to make to do business there.

Author: Brad Stone
Source: Businessweek
Published: May 12, 2011
Length: 16 minutes (4,046 words)

Time Person of the Year 2010: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

Time Person of the Year 2010: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

Time Person of the Year 2010: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

Longreads Pick

Zuckerberg has often — possibly always — been described as remote and socially awkward, but that’s not quite right. True: holding a conversation with him can be challenging. He approaches conversation as a way of exchanging data as rapidly and efficiently as possible, rather than as a recreational activity undertaken for its own sake. He is formidably quick and talks rapidly and precisely, and if he has no data to transmit, he abruptly falls silent. (“I usually don’t like things that are too much about me” was how he began our first interview.) He cannot be relied on to throw the ball back or give you encouraging facial cues. His default expression is a direct and slightly wide-eyed stare that makes you wonder if you’ve got a spider on your forehead.

Source: Time
Published: Dec 15, 2010
Length: 33 minutes (8,471 words)

The Face of Facebook

Longreads Pick

Mark Zuckerberg opens up.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Sep 20, 2010
Length: 24 minutes (6,158 words)

Mark Zuckerberg: The Temptation of Facebook’s CEO

Longreads Pick

If not for founder Mark Zuckerberg’s stubborn streak, social-media pioneer Facebook might be just another part of a giant media or tech outfit today. Instead it’s a giant on its own, with close to 500 million users, some $20 billion in market value, and millions of investors eagerly awaiting an IPO. For his new book, “The Facebook Effect: the Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World,” Fortune contributor David Kirkpatrick gained unprecedented access to the company and Zuckerberg, who turns 26 this month. In this adapted excerpt, Kirkpatrick reveals Zuckerberg’s turmoil as he resisted takeover offers from a parade of moguls.

Source: Fortune
Published: May 6, 2010
Length: 13 minutes (3,320 words)

The Facebook Divorce

Longreads Pick

Couples are broadcasting their breakups online while friends — and lawyers! — watch in amazement and horror

Source: Salon
Published: Sep 29, 2009
Length: 11 minutes (2,861 words)

The Social Network (Facebook Movie)

Longreads Pick
Source: ScriptShadow
Published: Jul 6, 2009
Length: 10 minutes (2,661 words)

Mezrich Spins Facebook Potboiler

Longreads Pick

But the buzzy Boston author’s lusty take plays loose with the facts while missing the real story.

Source: Boston Magazine
Published: Jul 28, 2009
Length: 9 minutes (2,414 words)