Facebook's biggest winners look to rich payday
Here are some of the individuals and firms that stand to make the most from Facebook's IPO, from Accel to, of course, Zuckerberg.
- SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
When Facebook goes public in a deal that could value the company at $100 billion, small fortunes will be made.
Here are some of the individuals and firms that stand to make the most from Facebook's IPO.
Mark Zuckerberg: He can now officially change his surname to Zuckerbucks. With his 28.2 percent ownership in Facebook, the paper wealth of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg now serves as an eternal rejoinder to the legion of armchair critics--and where are they now?--who thought that the then-22-year-old was bull goose loony for rejecting Yahoo's $1 billion buyout offer in 2006. Maybe they should ask the same question of Yahoo's former CEO, Terry Semel, who reportedly refused to up the offer for the up-and-coming social network.
Little did he--or the rest of us--know. But Zuckerberg was determined to stick it out and stay true to his vision for Facebook. Has being right ever been so sweet?
Accel Partners: Accel Partners was prescient when it bought 15 percent of Facebook, back when the company was valued at $98 million. The Silicon Valley venture capital firm still owns 11.4 percent of Facebook.
Dustin Moskovitz: Moskovitz, Mark Zuckerberg's former roomie at Harvard, has a 7.6 percent ownership share of Facebook, where he was chief technology officer before leaving in 2008.
Yuri Milner: Russian tycoon Milner is already reaping big gains from previous investments in social media stars Zynga and Groupon. Now he's going to add to that pot as various Miner-controlled companies own an estimated 5.4 percent of Facebook.
Eduardo Saverin: For those who fretted after watching "The Social Network" that Saverin had come out with the short end of the stick--he initially received a 30 percent ownership stake--don't worry. Saverin, one of the company co-founders, still comes out nicely, though his precise ownership share in Facebook wasn't available in the Facebook S-1.
Peter Thiel: In 2004, it wasn't clear that Facebook would become the world-beater it subsequently would become. MySpace was dominating the social-networking world back then, but Thiel nonetheless plunked down $500,000 and now holds a 2.5 percent stake in the company. Smart move -- very smart.
Sean Parker: A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A pre-IPO stake in Facebook for Parker that was estimated at 4 percent. The exact tally wasn't listed in the S-1 but it's likely more than enough to bankroll a sequel to "The Social Network." Heck, with that kind of payday why not buy your own studio?
Microsoft: Steve Ballmer wanted Microsoft to buy Facebook in 2007 but Zuckerberg wasn't interested in giving up the reins. So Microsoft's CEO got the next best thing for his company: a 1.6 percent stake in return for a $240 million investment. It may rank as one of Microsoft's smartest moves in the last decade.
Bono (and Elevation Partners): Wait -- what's Bono doing here? Well, it turns out that the U2 front man is part of the Elevation Partners investment group, which has a reported 1.5 percent stake in Facebook. The return should more than salve the painful reminders of the firm's less stellar investments in Palm and Forbes magazine.
Greylock Partners' Reid Hoffman: Another VC firm that came out a big winner, Greylock Partners was reported to own a 1.5 percent stake in Facebook (though it was below the minimum threshold to be listed in the S-1).