December 4, 2008 8:22 PM PST
Facebook delays employee stock sale
Facebook delayed a plan to let employees sell some of their stock. The plan seemed like a big win for the employees there but with the recession underway and no clear liquidity event in sight, I can't see why or how the company could move forward.
VentureBeat got the low-down:
The global economy is in the midst of an incredibly difficult period, and all companies have been affected in some way. After carefully considering the current environment, we've decided to establish an open-ended timetable for an employee stock sale program. Despite the turbulence in the financial markets and resulting challenges, we believe the company is very well positioned to handle this economic downturn. We have the means to go after big opportunities that will help solidify our position as the platform that everyone uses to share while building a fundamentally strong business.
I could never make sense of how Facebook was going to cash out employees of their stock options. Valuations are too variable and unless the payout were to occur at the exact moment of a financing event it seemed too good to be true--especially considering the hefty Microsoft valuation of $15 billion versus the internal valuation of $4 billion.
I certainly hope that the staff over there get some money out ASAP.
Dave Rosenberg is currently working on a new stealth start-up based in San Francisco. He is Co-founder of MuleSource, an open source integration and infrastructure software company and is a recognized thought-leader in open source software and service-oriented architecture. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
- Topics:
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Market Dynamics,
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Disruptors,
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Economics
- Tags:
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Facebook,
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Social Networking
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