This Kid Turned Down $1 Billion!
Mark Zuckerberg’s life so far is like a movie script. A supersmart kid invents a tech phenomenon while attending an Ivy League school and launches it to rave reviews. Big shots circle his dorm to make his acquaintance; he drops out of college to grow his baby and Change The World As We Know It.
Just three years in, Facebook which started as a networking site for college students has become a go-to tool for 19 million registered users, including employees of government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.
According to comScore Media Metrix, which tracks Web activity, it is now the sixth most-trafficked site in the United States–1% of all Internet time is spent on Facebook. ComScore also rates it the number-one photo-sharing site on the Web, with 6 million pictures uploaded daily. And it is starting to compete with Google and other tech titans as a destination for top young engineering talent in Silicon Valley. Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer, says it is on track to bring in $100 million in revenue this year–serious money indeed.
The New York Times and others reported that Yahoo had made a $1 billion offer to buy Facebook and Zuckerberg and his partners had turned it down.
“I’m here to build something for the long term,” Zuckerberg says. “Anything else is a distraction.”
Photo by Michael Elins.
FranchiseBrief.com on April 20th, 2007 6:02 pm
The kid is obviously down to earth…
Paul on April 21st, 2007 8:24 am
This guy Is smart, in probably 8-10 years he will make $1 billion and still have facebook..
Axel Kreuzberg on April 21st, 2007 8:48 am
Facebook is obviously worth more than 1 bil.
Brian Despain on April 21st, 2007 9:42 am
Remember Pointcast? The start-up that Rupert Murdoch offered 550 million for? They turned him down. Eventually the IP assets sold for 7 million in bankruptcy. You need to know when to sell. I just don’t see Facebook playing the same role in the professional world that it does in college. It’s hot because social networking is hot right now. We will see if it’s an ebay or a Pointcast. I think it’s a Pointcast.
Jack on April 22nd, 2007 1:34 am
Personally, I see where this kid is coming from. Big time. If I had a site that was doing wildly successfully, why sell? I wouldn’t. I have never visted facebook, but if he runs ads, you can guess he’s probably making more than enough to keep himself in whatever he wants, and not sell, and keep his business…
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