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Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#4
It sounds to me that FB should settle for a nice wad of cash, and make this all go away. Given a decent offer, my advice to Ceglia would be to take it. That said, a lot of people invested in FB in good faith, so perhaps any payments should come from Zuckerberg himself? I am usually not so interested in legal proceedings, but this may get interesting.

Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#5

Of all the speculation on what could kill Facebook, did anyone ever imagine it might be a "wood fuel salesman" from New York? Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

It will never kill Facebook. Facebook as an entity will still exist. Sure there might be a change in ownership, lawsuits, etc. But nobody involved would want to threaten the functional business / golden goose which is Facebook.

Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#7

It sounds to me that FB should settle for a nice wad of cash, and make this all go away. Given a decent offer, my advice to Ceglia would be to take it. That said, a lot of people invested in FB in good faith, so perhaps any payments should come from Zuckerberg himself? I am usually not so interested in legal proceedings, but this may get interesting.

What exactly would be a decent offer considering the valuation of FB?

Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#8

It sounds to me that FB should settle for a nice wad of cash, and make this all go away. Given a decent offer, my advice to Ceglia would be to take it. That said, a lot of people invested in FB in good faith, so perhaps any payments should come from Zuckerberg himself? I am usually not so interested in legal proceedings, but this may get interesting.

What exactly would be a decent offer considering the valuation of FB?

There is something to be said for the power of litigation. Presumably this guy does not have millions of dollars to spend fighting legal battles for the next ten years no matter how much the evidence is in his favor. Facebook and Zuckerberg do.

Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#9

It sounds to me that FB should settle for a nice wad of cash, and make this all go away. Given a decent offer, my advice to Ceglia would be to take it. That said, a lot of people invested in FB in good faith, so perhaps any payments should come from Zuckerberg himself? I am usually not so interested in legal proceedings, but this may get interesting.

What exactly would be a decent offer considering the valuation of FB?

"Fuck you" money, basically. The difference between $FU and 2 x $FU is pretty insignificant, so haggling past that point is irrational, but the difference between 10 x $FU and 0 - huge lawyer fees is enormous and the probability of coming up worse than empty way too high. In his position, I'd take a "large" cash (or easily-liquidated) settlement over almost anything available via litigation, even seemingly enormous portions of the company.

Of course, I also don't think Facebook's star is going to exponentially rise over the next three or four years, so I may not be in the majority here.

Re: Zuckerberg admits working for man claiming Facebook ownership

#10

It sounds to me that FB should settle for a nice wad of cash, and make this all go away. Given a decent offer, my advice to Ceglia would be to take it. That said, a lot of people invested in FB in good faith, so perhaps any payments should come from Zuckerberg himself? I am usually not so interested in legal proceedings, but this may get interesting.

What exactly would be a decent offer considering the valuation of FB?

As commented in another thread, it would be ludicrous for Microsoft, Digital Sky Technologies et al. to allow Mr. Ceglia a seat on Facebook's board. They will explore and deploy every legal option to avoid this. It is not so ludicrous for investment bankers to engineer a tax-minimal FU-style lifestyle for Mr. Ceglia by endowing a non-profit for some pet interest of his choice and paying him handsomely.

If Mr. Ceglia truly wants ownership of Facebook, he is going to have to fight for years. If he wants enough money for a private jet, he just might get it. As will his lawyers.

This could be the most lucrative transaction in the history of Craigslist.

And the twist is if Ceglia truly did have this contract with Zuckerberg, it leaves the ConnectU guys in a particular interesting situation (as the Facebook idea was being worked on way before ConnectU).

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