LA TIMES -- Feb 26 -- Mark Zuckerberg is sitting on a potential gold mine that could make him the next Silicon Valley whiz kid to strike it rich or become the next poster boy for missed opportunities. Zuckerberg spurned several takeover bids last year, including a $1-billion offer from Yahoo. "We clearly have a bias toward building than selling," Zuckerberg said. "We think there is a lot more to unlock here." Other prime takeover targets include Metacafe and Photobucket. Web 2.0 players have emerged as hot commodities because they are drawing more people away from TV, newspapers and other media traditionally used for advertising. A Facebook sale or IPO is bound to happen eventually. Facebook has raised about $38.5 million so far. "Facebook is doing the smart thing. If you are in a big market like social networking, you are usually better off waiting" to sell, said Marc Andreessen, who is now CTO for social-networking start-up, Ning. Had MySpace remained independent, it would probably be worth $5 billion now, Andreessen estimated. Friendster turned down a takeover bid from Google in 2003; $30 million in Google stock that would be worth about $1 billion today. Abrams left Friendster in 2004, after a falling out with the company's venture capitalists. FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES
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Mark Brooks: Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Experience is the toughest teacher, it gives you the test first and the kick-in-the-ass lesson afterwards. Beyond the Google offer, Friendster should have wrapped it's arms around Hollywood earlier on. Not music, like MySpace, but Hollywood, and videos. Ex-NBX exec, (#2 of 4 Friendster CEO's) Scott Sassa, failed to make the connection with Hollywood unfortunately. Friendster promoted the Pamela Anderson TV show and MySpace followed up by promoting the The Office sequel. Friendster was aced on music, Hollywood, server speeds and user empowerment. Kent Lindstrom is Friendster's CEO now. He may well re-establish Friendster as a worthy first tier (top 5) social network. He was a Friendster early investor and the CFO in 2004.