Let me just get this out of the way: I love Facebook.
I say that without a hint of irony or embarrassment. I’m not the least bit surprised, however, that my adoration is not shared by most. In a poll released by CNBC today, the rest of the country has developed more of love-hate relationship with Facebook. They can’t stop using it, but:
“Facebook users have consistently cast a wary and suspicious eye on the platform: 59 percent of respondents said that they had little to no trust in Facebook to keep their information private. Yet despite those ongoing concerns, the number of users (and their engagement) continues to increase.”
In that regard, the rest of the country is catching up with Silicon Valley, where it has long been deeply uncool to admit that you like, or love, Facebook. The valley is a place where people love to love their digital services and gadgets. People love Apple! They used to love Google, back when it first came on the scene.
Groupon reported earnings today, and the reaction from investors after the market closed was bullish. Less than an hour after results were released, the stock was trading up 16.66 percent. The focus was on revenues and operating income beating expectations.
“Revenue for the second quarter 2012 is expected to be between $550 million and $590 million, an increase of between 40% and 50% compared with the second quarter 2011.”
Now, 50 percent growth isn’t so bad. But it is much lower than the 89 percent growth year-over-year Groupon had in the 1st quarter. And that “$550 million and $590 million” outlook means revenue could be down, or flat from the 1st quarter. Of course, it may also increase, but still, these numbers seem to allow one make the case that Groupon’s revenue growth is loosing some steam.
Investors, on the other hand, seemed confident that things have brightened for Groupon. We’ll see.Read the rest of this entry »
Zynga will introduce Bubble Safari, its first arcade-style game on Wednesday. The game combines Zynga’s social dynamics with a game that looks and feels like something you might have stumbled upon in the old coin-operated arcades in your local mall back in the 1980s.
The development of Bubble Safari was overseen by Mark Turmell, senior creative director at Zynga’s San Diego office. Turmell left EA Sports last July to join Zynga. In an interview, Turmell said his background was in arcade games and eventually he became best known for the game NBA Jams.
“I joined Zynga to bring those learnings and experiences to the company,” said Mark Turmell, senior creative director at Zynga’s San Diego office. Read the rest of this entry »
A lot of stories about the Facebook numbers are reporting that Facebook will raise $10.6 billion when it sells its stock in the next couple of weeks. However, it’s important to note that only about half of that will actually go into the company’s coffers. The rest is insiders cashing out shares.
The company said it is selling 337.4 million shares in its updated S-1. However, only 180 million shares are being sold by Facebook itself. The other 157.4 million shares are being sold by insiders.
That means that if the shares go out at the low end of the $28-$35 price range, Facebook would pocket about $5 billion. The rest would go to insiders: venture firms and executives.
Today, we learned that SolarCity has filed for an IPO. In the past, when this happened, companies filed at S-1 which gaves us our first real look at the numbers that underly their business. How much revenue? How much profit? How much do they pay their executives? Who owns how many shares?
Alas, now that Congress has passed the JOBS Act and President Obama signed it, we know zip. That’s because the JOBS Act allows companies that have less than $1 billion in revenue to file non-public drafts with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC will review and advise on necessary changes. Once it’s tidied up, just a few weeks before the company actually starts selling shares, we’ll get a peak.
This is just one of many ways the JOBS Act, so beloved by Silicon Valley, rolled back the movement toward greater transparency. It’s an appalling step backward for shareholders, and would seem to violate the philosophy of anyone who believes the age of the Internet promises to deliver any number of social, economic and financial improvements by fostering more openness. Read the rest of this entry »
Dropbox founder Drew Houston gets ready to take the stage at the grand opening.
Dropbox held an open house on Wednesday at it’s brand new headquarters in San Francisco’s China Basin. Most of the hour-long event was dedicated to talks by co-founder Drew Houston and SF Mayor Ed Lee, followed by a tour. At the end, however, Jessica Guynn of the Los Angeles Times managed to get Houston to answer a couple of brief questions about the topic on everyone’s mind: Google Drive.
Houston was running late for an overseas flight for a meeting in South Korea. When the subject was broached, his initial response was that he’d a lot more time than he had to give a proper response. Still, here’s a couple of quotes from Houston: Read the rest of this entry »
One big surprise to me in its latest securities filing: Facebook notes that the Instagram acquisition is subject to regulatory anti-trust approval:
“This acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the expiration or early termination of all applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended (HSR), and is currently expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.”
If I’m correct, this is the first time Facebook has done anything that would require any kind of anti-trust review. It seems far-fetched to think either the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission would make an anti-trust case here. Read the rest of this entry »
Every year since 1986, the Mercury News has published a list of the largest public companies in Silicon Valley, now known as the SV150. It’s a big undertaking, and one that I always find fascinating. This year, as I wrote in my column for the SV150, we expanded the definition of Silicon Valley to capture a number of new companies, and to recognize the fact that there is a lot of startup momentum in San Francisco and the East Bay.
But there were several other themes that struck me from reading the section this weekend: Read the rest of this entry »
Groupon 
Today, 
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