Om says: when offered $750 million for your company, well… Erhmmm. TAKE IT. Bizweek is reporting that the company turned that figure down and is looking for something more like $2 billion.
Is this going to be another Friendster tale of woe?
Well, perhaps. As I learned when similar sized offers came to the Standard’s board table, selling the company is not always the entrepreneurs’ decision. The investors usually have final word, though I have no idea if that is true or not in the case of Facebook. And the company does have a remarkable business, in terms of its nearly complete reach into one of the most sought after markets in America – college kids. I can certainly see why Facebook board members might pound the table and say “We’re worth more, dammit!”
But, twenty years from now, I’m not sure anyone in the deal would argue that taking $750 million was such a bad move. Especially when the money in was about $13 million, and the damn worm of cool turns so fast in this business.
On the other hand, there is the Google problem. What’s that, you might ask? Google going after Facebook with an Orkut-powered killer app? No. Not at all. The problem is that Sergey and Larry held out and refused a lowball offer from Excite (and others) early in Google’s life, and they never looked back. Every set of young founders wants to do what they did – catch lightening in a bottle, change the world, make billions of dollars. Good luck, guys. I really do wish you well.
Me? I’d take the $750 million. But then, you all probably figured that one out by now!