Accel’s Jim Breyer is joining eBay’s board. I am not a major fan of VCs, admittedly, most are having a hard time running their own business, let alone giving sound advice to the businesses they invest in. continue reading...
Jeff Weiner just joined both Accel Partners and Greylock as en EIR. EIRs are basically former company execs looking for something to do… at a new company funded by the VC housing the EIR or at one of the VCs companies.
The thing is… usually it’s one VC, not two. Say what you want about how the VCs absolutely love Jeff and are willing to share him etc., but that’s BS. This one is pretty obvious: Jeff Weiner was tapped to become Facebook’s next CEO. continue reading...
To estimate how much a company is worth, you can look at:
1- comparables amongst publicly traded companies
2- recent merger and acquisition deals
3- estimate its future earning power, discounted to today
4- forecast what an asset would fetch in an auction or sale, be it in an M&A or an IPO. continue reading...
The last time we heard an M&A rumor involving Microsoft, Yahoo!’s stock shot up 18%, only to come crashing down when nothing materialized. In fact, by the time the markets closed on the very same day the rumor crept up [again], that rumor was squashed.
Today, the rumor mill began again with Facebook being the latest company within Microsoft’s cross-hairs. If there’s one thing I learned involving MSFT is I’ll believe it when I see it. continue reading...
Less than 48 hours ago, I laughed-out-loud when I read that Bay Partners would be setting up a separate fund to invest in Facebook Application Developments (which incidentally spells fad, but that’s really just a coincidence). Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely bullish on Facebook (Facebook 100M users, a matter of when, not if) and if I were a part of the company I could envision a dozen ways to create an Ad Sense-esque revenue stream… but the fact remains, Facebook Apps is no brass ring for third parties. I’ve written on this here: Facebook OS: Be careful what you ask for.
In fact, by now it’s quite obvious that this is Facebook’s way to not only drum up excitement amongst developers but mainly a way to try to find that diamond in the rough product or application that it can then either develop itself, partner up with or outright acquire in the hopes of it becoming what Ad Sense was to Google: a $10B annual revenue stream within 4 years of launch. continue reading...
