A while back we predicted that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was in danger of losing his title as the world's youngest billionaire due to the maddening ascent of teen diva Miley Cyrus. But, Forbes magazine says, Mark Zuckerberg, who's just shy of his 25th birthday, has indeed lost his title as the world's youngest billionaire--simply because he's not a billionaire anymore.
He's still fabulously wealthy, obviously, and clearly stands a chance of making it back onto the list. But his fortune is tied closely to Facebook's valuation, and with the worldwide recession in effect, that valuation has only gone down. The company still relies on advertising revenue, which has been hit hard by the market collapse. Forbes hasn't released a figure as to what they guess Zuckerberg's actual worth might be.
Even worse for poor Zuck: He's been replaced by a guy with the worst sideburns I've ever seen. The title of world's youngest billionaire has returned to Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, a 25-year-old German worth $2.1 billion, whose facial hair could only be at home in a 19th-century imperial army or a divey hipster music venue.
Kind of makes you appreciate Zuckerberg's trademark North Face fleeces and Adidas sandals.
Forbes Media announced Wednesday that it has officially acquired Clipmarks.com, a social news site that operates by enabling members to "clip" and share parts of Web sites rather than simply bookmarking them. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Clipmarks CEO Eric Goldstein will stay in his post.
The acquisition will serve primarily to enhance Forbes' online news content, apparently. "Forbes.com editors use Clipmarks technology across the Forbes.com site, clipping and posting content from other Web sites that they think site users might be interested in reading," a release from the site explained.
The Clipmarks-Forbes rumor first surfaced way back in August but dissipated quickly when Clipmarks execs hastily denied that the deal was far from certain. It was never stated explicitly, but the undercurrents of Clipmarks' representatives responses suggested that the premature leak of the acquisition talks may actually have delayed or even halted the deal.
Last week, I had the honor of being a guest on G4's Attack of the Show with Forbes deputy editor David Ewalt, as host Kevin Pereira grilled us on whether we're reaching a tipping point when it comes to online social networking. I think the general answer was "yes and no"--yes, we're reaching a point where most new entries into general-interest social networking sector (hello, Pownce, Flux, and Mash) have a rather uphill climb ahead, but no, this stuff's not going to go away altogether.
P.S.: Do I look like I'm twitching on camera? The Javits Center will do that to you.
VentureBeat reported this evening that "an inside source" had informed them that Forbes Magazine--home publication of the now-outed Fake Steve Jobs--has acquired Clipmarks, a New York-based start-up that allows users to share snippets and bits of Web pages rather than simply a hyperlink or an entire article. This is done through a downloadable browser plug-in that enables "highlighting" up to a certain amount of text on a site.
A look at Clipmarks' downloadable 'highlighting' features.
(Credit: Clipmarks)No financial details were provided, but VentureBeat's Eric Eldon wrote that "Forbes finds the service useful for helping their reporters collect and share information about articles they are reading--and you may soon be seeing Clipmarks used in their stories and blogposts. They'll clip something, and then blog something quickly around it."
Clipmarks representatives were quick to respond to the rumors, and they were strikingly candid. Founder Eric Goldstein addressed the matter (how else?) by "clipping" it and then commenting on the shared text to clarify: "This article is a bit premature," Goldstein wrote. "We have not been acquired by Forbes. However, for the past few months we have been meeting with people at all levels of Forbes and the excitement and support they have shown for what we're creating has been very meaningful to us."
But don't count an acquisition out just yet, Goldstein hinted: "In the coming weeks i hope/expect to have a more definitive announcement about our relationship." Meanwhile, Clipmarks evangelist Eric Skiff had this to say in his Twitter feed: "Wow! I go away on vacation for a few days, and our big news leaks!...Clipmarks + Forbes = <3."
Keep an eye on this one.
Fake Steve Jobs got outed, but none of these Brooklyn concert-goers really cared. Oh, well.
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)"See, Fake Steve Jobs was like the Banksy of blogging."
I was trying to explain to the guy standing next to me why I'd just flipped out. We were at McCarren Park Pool, a massive abandoned-natatorium-turned-concert-venue in the Brooklyn hipster hub of Williamsburg (a neighborhood which any New Yorker either loves or loathes). All summer, McCarren has hosted a series of "Pool Parties" concerts, sponsored by youth-oriented "social tech" brands like Helio and Going.com, and this past Sunday was no exception. Hordes of sunburned music fans in imitation Ray-Bans and shrunken plaid shirts had crowded into the drained swimming pool for performances by I'm From Barcelona and Blonde Redhead, and while they were batting around beach balls in the mosh pit, New York Times writer Brad Stone outed Fake Steve Jobs as Forbes editor Daniel Lyons.
Upon seeing the headline on my mobile Google Reader, I may have overreacted just a bit.
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