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Facebook CEO has no time for investor meeting
Mark Zuckerberg wants at least $5 billion from Wall Street investors, but those investors will not be getting much face time in return.
Mark Zuckerberg wants at least $5 billion from Wall Street investors, but those investors will not be getting much face time in return.
The Facebook co-founder and CEO made that clear when he skipped the social networking company’s first major briefing for analysts and bankers last week. The meeting was the first of many that will take place in the run-up to an IPO that could value the company at close to $100 billion.
Zuckerberg’s dismissive approach is hardly unique among elite Silicon Valley companies, but it could become an issue with investors because of the enormous control he exerts over Facebook via special shares.
“We don’t think that he should be hiding from the investors,” said Carin Zelenko, the director of the capital strategies department for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, whose pension and benefit funds have more than $100 billion invested in the capital markets.
“He wants investors to put their money behind him, with the confidence in him personally, as the person who built this company and who’s going to lead it and control
it. He should be accountable to those people who are investing.”
According to Zelenko, the Teamsters will send a letter to the trustees of the various Teamster funds advising them to be wary of long-term risks associated with investing in Facebook as a result of its “anti-investor” corporate governance structure.
