Gay Plays Well for Maverick VC

By delaying, Facebook keeps secrets, avoids regulation

(NEWSER) - The $500 million Goldman Sachs and other investors just dropped on Facebook will stave off its long-awaited IPO for a good while longer, the New York Times observes. Until recently, tech companies would jump to go public as soon as possible, but Facebook has so far decided it’s not worth bothering with the ever-shifting winds of Wall Street and the strictures of government regulation—and others are following suit. More»

Social networking site wants a cut of gaming transactions

(NEWSER) - Gaming is blowing up on Facebook, and the social networking site hopes to take a cut of the very real revenue generated by virtual interactions. Analysts think credits and other services bought to enhance the likes of “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars” will be trading at a clip of $1 billion a year on the site by 2012. If Facebook Credits become the currency of choice and the company follows PayPal’s rates, it would mean a cut of $55 million, notes Bloomberg. More»

(NEWSER) - Facebook’s recent deal to let employees sell some of their stock to private investors has sent Silicon Valley scrambling, as workers at other start-ups ask for similar deals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Start-ups rely on the promise of future stock sales to lure and retain talent, but with the market upheaval scaring most companies away from public offerings, employees are getting restless. More»

The new business model calls for a 'slow and easy' approach to going public

(NEWSER) - Growing Web 2.0 companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slide are biding their time before going public, making sure to run up their value as much as possible to fetch top dollar with an IPO, reports Business Week. It’s a far different approach than companies took before the dot-com bubble burst, when the fast track to an IPO was the goal. More»

Company's first generation behind $30 billion of cutting edge companies

(NEWSER) - They may be the most brilliantly successful—or luckiest—or both—small group of entrepreneurs in history: PayPal alumni who, like founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, left the company to create $30 billion worth of innovation: YouTube, Facebook, Slide, Yelp, Digg, investment firms, philanthropies, solar-power companies, an electric car maker and a Mars colonization plan. Fortune Magazine infiltrates the "PayPal Mafia" for clues to their success. More»