Goldman Employees Blocked From Facebook Said to Get Tutorial
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook Inc.
Tony Avelar/Bloomberg
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook Inc.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook Inc. Photographer: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Dixon Doll, co-founder of venture-capital firm DCM, discusses the outlook for Facebook Inc. after it raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Russia's Digital Sky Technologies in a transaction that values the social-networking company at $50 billion. Doll, talking with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses the outlook for technology firm initial public offerings and Clearwire Corp. following the departure of Chairman Craig McCaw. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ryan Jacob, chairman and fund manager at Jacob Asset Management, discusses Facebook Inc.'s estimated $50 billion valuation after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Digital Sky Technologies were said to have bought a $500 million stake in the social-media company. Jacob speaks from Manhattan Beach, California, with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- John Chachas, founder and managing partner at Methuselah Capital Advisors, discusses Facebook Inc.'s cash infusion from investors led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and outlook for the world's most popular social-networking site. Chachas talks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Thomas Heilmann, co-founder of German advertising agency Scholz & Friends AG, discusses the sale of his stake in Facebook Inc. Facebook is said to have received a $500 million investment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Russia's Digital Sky Technologies that values the social-networking company at $50 billion. He talks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness." (Source: Bloomberg)
Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Scott Galloway, founder of Firebrand Partners and a professor at New York University, talks about Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s $450 million investment in Facebook Inc., owner of the most popular social network. Facebook raised $500 million from Goldman and Russia's Digital Sky Technologies in a deal that values the company at $50 billion. Galloway speaks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
Now that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has invested $450 million in social-networking company Facebook Inc. it wants to make sure employees know how the website works.
They got a lesson yesterday from David Ebersman, Facebook’s chief financial officer, who walked members of the bank’s private wealth-management group through the basics during a presentation at Goldman Sachs’s San Francisco office, according to a person who listened in and asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.
Goldman Sachs, which discourages its employees from using social-networking sites at work, invested $450 million in Palo Alto, California-based Facebook, according to three people familiar with the matter. The private-wealth unit is planning to create a special-purpose vehicle for its clients to make additional investments worth as much as $1.5 billion.
The bank’s investment in a company whose product it disfavors is “amusing,” though it makes sense, said Steven Neil Kaplan, a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “When you work, you work,” he said.
At the session, which was transmitted to other Goldman Sachs offices by video and phone, employees learned how to explain Facebook to their older clients, or to understand it themselves, according to the person who listened in. Ebersman, who became CFO in June 2009, used a mock-up of the site during the presentation, not a live version, the person said.
‘Logged and Audited’
Goldman Sachs employees receive a warning when they try to log onto Facebook at work. The message says that “access to this site is logged and audited” and that usage at the New York-based firm is restricted to “legitimate business.”
Ebersman told his Goldman Sachs audience that he became convinced Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, 26, was onto something when he watched his own daughters look through their yearbooks and tell him how much they enjoyed seeing photos of their friends, the person said. He also joked about seeing targeted hair-loss ads on the site.
Stephen Cohen, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment. Ebersman didn’t immediately return two e-mail messages.
On his Facebook page, Ebersman says he was a member of the Class of 1991 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He lists Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” as two of his favorite books.
To contact the reporter on this story: Max Abelson in New York at mabelson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net
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