During a spirited discussion at the Web 2.0 Summit taking place in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer compared his company’s attempt to become a respected player in web search to Google.
In his normal passionate kind of way, Ballmer said Microsoft’s aspirations to become a web search giant is like when you’re just three years old, and you’re in there playing basketball with a 12-year-old”. “You’re growing up quick and getting better every day, and you’ve got all the potential in world, and it may take you ’til you’re seven, eight, nine or 10, but you’re gonna dunk and you’re gonna dunk on the other guy some day, Johnny.”
Ashutosh Roy, eGain’s co-founder, has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of eGain since 1997. In October 2003, the head of Mountain View-based eGain asked the board to cut his annual salary to $24 per year. The company was in restructuring/cost cutting mode at the time. Roy’s $24 annual salary makes him one of the “poorest” CEOs in town. Read.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says an initial public offering for Facebook Inc. is years away. He did say however, that the company is working on a major round of financing. Microsoft has been the suspected sugar daddy reportedly looking to invest some $500 million for a 5% stake.
When asked at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco how his company planned to position itself for growth, Zuckerberg replied “we might do something in ads.” When pressed for more info on the subject, he refused to elaborate.
In an interview with the UK publication Times Online Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer questioned the permanence of the success of Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites. “I think these things [social networks] are going to have some legs, and yet there’s a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals to younger people,” he said.
Mr. Ballmer used the lessons learned during the dotcom boom of the mid-late 90’s as proof…where in 1999 Yahoo bought the online community Geocities, a site that “had most of what Facebook has,” for 3 billion US dollars, Mr. Ballmer noted. That site deal didn’t turn out so well.
Ballmer’s comments come after a reported sit-down with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week. Reports had surfaced that Microsoft was considering purchasing a 5% stake in Facebook for around $500 million which would mean that Microsoft values the company at around $10 billion.
There was little in the way of technology to justify the lofted valuation attached to a site expected to achieve revenues of only 150 million US dollars this year, Mr. Ballmer is said to have stated.
Zuckerberg has reportedly put the value of the site at a lofty 15 billion US dollars.
In an announcement that makes one wonder whether Internet phone provider Skype is just a bunch of Hype… eBay said today that it will take $1.4 billion in writeoffs and other charges related to its October 2005 acquisition of Skype.
To top it off, Skype Co-Founder & CEO Niklas Zennstrom is stepping down from his post and the search for a new CEO is on.
EBay purchased Skype two years ago for $2.6 billion. The hope was, among other things, to use the internet phone company to encourage communications between EBay auction buyers and sellers.
The charges announced today reflect the “updated long-term financial outlook for Skype,” eBay said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to reports, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted in Seattle earlier this week. Sources say he was in town to meet with Microsoft execs.
There has been talk that Microsoft is looking to invest around $500 million for a 5 percent state in Facebook. If this is true, it means that Microsoft is putting a $10 billion valuation on the social networking company. Zuckerberg’s trip to Seattle has caused widespread speculation that there might indeed be some truth to the rumor.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Zuckerberg is holding out for a valuation of $15 billion, either from Microsoft or other potential investors possibly including Google…So this meeting could be just a teaser to wet Microsoft’s appetite.
Take our advice Mark, take the $10 billion. $10 billion in the hand is worth $15 billion in the bush.
