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Zuckerberg takes heat for hoodie on IPO road show

Facebook is about a week away from a near $100-billion valuation outing on Wall Street and at least one Wall Streeter is complaining about Mark Zuckerberg's attire for the IPO road show.

Bloomberg's Mark Milian quotes Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter: "Mark and his signature hoodie: He's actually showing investors he doesn't care that much; he's going to be him. I think that's a mark of immaturity. I think that he has to realize he's bringing investors in as a new constituency right now, and I think he's got to show … Read more

Does Facebook deserve its astronomical valuation?

A day after Facebook opened its books to support its $5 billion IPO, there is still some debate over whether the social network lives up to its astronomical valuation.

In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, Facebook revealed that it had 845 million monthly users and was rapidly closing in on 1 billion. As many have noted, the key will be leveraging that massive user base to generate more revenue through its display ads and its app platform.

However, some have suggested the historic offering is overblown, characterizing Facebook as a "badly overpriced photo-sharing and gaming … Read more

Facebook IPO: Social network makes its move

Silicon Valley and Wall Street had been watching since forever, it seems, for Facebook to go public. Now the IPO filing is finally upon us, and we're learning a lot about the social network.

Forget $100B! Facebook could soon be worth $200BThe financials don't yet justify the lofty valuation people are talking about--but Facebook could earn a place among the ranks of public companies the size of Google and IBM. (Posted in Digital Media by Peter Yared) February 2, 2012 4:38 p.m. PT

Does Facebook deserve its astronomical valuation? Pundits square off over whether the … Read more

Forget $100B! Facebook could soon be worth $200B

For all the naysaying about Facebook, that it's a flash in the pan and such, there are very few that say that "social" is going away.

Facebook has defined the social era of computing--and the companies that defined the previous eras of computing each command market values of $200 billion or more.

Facebook should get there, too.

IBM kicked off the mainframe era of computing and to this day is the leader in big enterprise computers and services. Microsoft was an early leader in personal computer software and now dominates microprocessor based desktops and servers. And after … Read more

Hitwise: 1 in 5 U.S. pageviews belong to Facebook

Yesterday Facebook gave the world its biggest inside peek into the company's inner workings, and the number crunching is far from over.

The latest batch comes from Experian Hitwise, which has posted a breakdown of what it says are 10 "key statistics" about the company's presence online in the U.S. according to data it's gathered. That includes the fact that one ouf out every five page views in January were on Facebook.com.

Some of the findings by category:

Prevalence "Facebook" is the most searched term in the U.S., Hitwise said, … Read more

Startup opportunities abound in wake of Facebook IPO

Facebook may dominate the social media landscape today with 845 million users, but experts say that instead of consolidating around the market leader, the social media landscape is fragmenting, leaving big opportunities for startups, especially those targeting mobile users.

This could be good news for entrepreneurs and investors who might be green with envy over Facebook's projected $5 billion gain from its upcoming initial public offering. But for consumers, it means that managing Facebook, Google+, and Twitter accounts is just the beginning.

Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist and principal at Union Square Ventures, discussed this notion of a more … Read more

Facebook's IPO filing: Top 10 surprises

Boy, was there was a lot to digest from yesterday's Facebook IPO filing.

The filing was a cacophony of financial figures, charts, stats, highlighting and discussing strategy, risks, and growth expectations. So to make it easier for you, CNET has compiled the top 10 surprises and things you need to know about Facebook.

1. Facebook is big: Okay, that's a pretty obvious one. But it's jaw-dropping to see just how big it really is. The company reported 845 million monthly users, rapidly closing in on 1 billion. Keep in mind most people will have that 500 million … Read more

In Facebook IPO, color this graffiti artist richly rewarded

If you are one of the strange people who care about the very poor, the downtrodden, the forgotten, and the anonymous, you might enjoy the story of David Choe. Even though he's neither poor nor anonymous these days.

In 2005, Choe was privileged to be offered an interesting opportunity -- to paint the walls of Facebook's first office in Palo Alto.

At the time, of course, he had no idea that these odd people would become more important than potentates and politicians. But, as the New York Times paints it, Sean Parker, Facebook's president at the time, … Read more

Zuckerberg's challenge: Sticking with 'Hacker Way'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a letter to potential shareholders romanticized the "Hacker Way" of operating and the meritocracy that comes via good code.

His challenge will be maintaining that ethos amid quarterly earnings conference calls, employees that will be instant millionaires and the politics that come with being a large lumbering company.

Technology high fliers all have the same dream: Become huge yet maintain the nimbleness of a startup.

There have been so many pixels spilled on Facebook's IPO filing. That document may be the most examined IPO filing in recent times. But for me Zuckerberg'… Read more