
Mark Zuckerberg: I Donated to Diaspora project - aj
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/zuckerberg-interview/
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orblivion
_So I don’t know, one thing that is personally a bit disheartening…. It bums
me out that people immediately go to “You must be doing this to make money.”
Because that’s just so different from the ethos of the company. It is so
different from how we actually think about stuff that you feel so
misunderstood._

It's pretty sad that people think that someone should or ever would run a huge
operation without money being a major factor, and it's even more sad and also
insidious that Mark is playing along with this fallacy himself.

~~~
tedunangst
Money can be a major concern to a huge operation without being its primary
focus. Money is a big deal for the Red Cross, but the Red Cross doesn't exist
to make money.

~~~
klochner
The Red Cross is a non-profit.

facebook has a legal obligation to maximize shareholder value:

    
    
       Whereas for-profit organizations exist to earn and
       re-distribute taxable wealth to employees and 
       shareholders, the nonprofit corporation exists solely to
       provide programs and services that are of self-benefit.

~~~
celoyd
No, it has a legal obligation to do what (the majority of) its shareholders
say. If they tell it to dance a jig and give all its assets to the Flat Earth
Society, it’s obliged.

Maximizing shareholder value in the way that’s usually meant is a business
school doctrine, not a legal doctrine. (Edit: on second thought, it is _a_
legal doctrine, just not _the_ legal doctrine.) See, for example,
<http://www.virginialawbusrev.org/VLBR3-1pdfs/Stout.pdf> :

“ _Dodge v. Ford_ is a mistake, a judicial “sport,” a doctrinal oddity largely
irrelevant to corporate law and corporate practice. What is more, courts and
legislatures alike treat it as irrelevant. […] Only laypersons and (more
disturbingly) many law professors continue to rely on _Dodge v. Ford_.”

~~~
klochner
If they go public as expected, I'm doubting many equity holders will be
interested in a jig.

I stand by my observation that a non-profit is poor evidence for the assertion
"Money can be a major concern to a huge operation without being its primary
focus"

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Jun8
Reading his responses, he doesn't come off as the money-hungry psychopath that
he was claimed to be. Either he knows how to hide his agenda very well, or,
well, he's just your usual young founder.

~~~
qq66
No majorly successful founder-CEO is "in it for the money." If he wanted to
just buy Lamborghinis and penthouses, he would have sold the company for $1
billion several years ago.

Anyone like Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg, Ellison, etc. are in it for the power,
megalomania, and manifest destiny -- not for the money.

~~~
silkodyssey
The 11 Companies That Tried To Buy Facebook

[http://www.businessinsider.com/all-the-companies-that-
ever-t...](http://www.businessinsider.com/all-the-companies-that-ever-tried-
to-buy-facebook-2010-5)

~~~
jimbokun
Why does image 15 of the slide show have a picture of Shaq and Tim Duncan?

~~~
maukdaddy
SHAQ ATTACK!

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faramarz
He's probably one of the people who donated 2k for a box, pre-installed, just
to study it.

I like this move regardless. it's showing his personality, great PR story too.

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oldgregg
Diaspora needs to be the Dropbox for Facebook (plus any other social network).
They need to launch as the diaspora facebook app. P2P with just your friends.
The abundance of legitimate uses provides a legal shield that will allow all
kinds of files to be traded freely and you're carving out a niche that
facebook can't compete with.

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charlesju
Just like how Apple's iAd initiative allowed Google to close the AdMob
acquisition, Diaspora will inadvertently give an outlet for pundits looking
for a privacy/open alternative to Facebook, giving them more flexibility to be
aggressive in their growth strategy. Not to mention it makes him look
generous.

It's a brilliant move.

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pjscott
That's great to hear, but I would be happier if he had said that he wants
Facebook to be able to interoperate smoothly with Diaspora (assuming Diaspora
goes well), and that he's willing to make that happen.

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shikind
It all just sounds like:

"I'm not the bad guy; see? See? This donation proves it."

"I'm just like the Diaspora devs. I'm a hip young hacker too! I'm just like
them! I'm a good guy too."

"Daww, aren't they the cutest things? Making either what I already found
wouldn't work, or what did work but what I've already done better."

It is cool that he's donated to the project. That said, his responses in the
interview just come across as posturing, self-promoting, and some light FUD
apropos Diaspora. Not terribly convinced here.

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asmosoinio
One page view of the whole article:

[http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/zuckerberg-
interview/...](http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/zuckerberg-
interview/all/1)

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zach
I saw this and wondered if my nutty conspiracy theory might be true.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1345430>

But reading the interview I don't get that kind of vibe. Which is really too
bad because I thought he had real super-villain potential.

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xexers
It's not that crazy. Some companies thrive with competition. Microsoft enjoys
having apple as competition and vice-versa. Microsoft bailed apple out a
little over a decade ago for that exact reason.

Zuckerberg is very competitive. I'm sure he wants the competition to step up
and give him a run for his money.

~~~
Anechoic
_Microsoft enjoys having apple as competition and vice-versa. Microsoft bailed
apple out a little over a decade ago for that exact reason._

No, Microsoft "invested" in Apple to settle the potential multi-billion dollar
lawsuit Apple was threatening to file:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Canyon_Company>

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robryan
I guess it would be a public outcry if they came out and said it is in their
interest to have lower privacy to compete in Twitter like real time search and
with Google.

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brown9-2
Even if it's true, stating it in an interview like this just comes off as
trying to sound cool.

~~~
tedunangst
Yeah, a better answer to the asked question would have been "Sorry, I'd really
like to comment, but I can't without sounding cool."

