Jim Breyer, one of Facebooka4ぎa4г earliest investors through venture firm Accel Partners, just talked to Bloomberg TV about LinkedIna4ぎa4г recently announced initial public offering. He said that if he were in LinkedIna4ぎa4г board of directors, he would have told the company to wait a little longer:
I don&'t think there&'s any rush to go to the public markets. And certainly the advice we give to our CEOs is take time, remain private as long as you can, build the business, build the profitability, and most importantly keep the product passion that is the definition of all the great companies out there. The ones who don&'t have the long-term, deeply intense 24/7 product passion hit the rails, and I would point to Yahoo and AOL as two that have certainly done that.
Facebook is certainly a company that has taken its time before going public, although it looks like the IPO could finally happen in 2012. Breyer and other Facebook investors may have some incentive to root for a successful LinkedIn IPO, which is seen as testing the appetite for Facebook. If LinkedIna4ぎa4г IPO goes badly, that could also lower the interest in Facebooka4ぎa4г offering.
Breyer touches on that issue in the interview, saying that LinkedIn a4ぎAwill not be a flopa4ぎ and that Accel isna4ぎa4д really worried anyway: a4ぎAWe really don&'t spend a lot of time thinking about which company went public and which didn&'t.a4ぎ
Ita4ぎa4г also interesting to see Breyer offering this perspective since he hasna4ぎa4д always been so patient. In fact, as he admitted to journalist David Kirkpatrick in his book The Facebook Effect, in 2006 Breyer encouraged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to consider Yahooa4ぎa4г $1 billion acquisition offer. Zuckerberga4ぎa4г response was to point out that he controls a majority of Facebooka4ぎa4г board: a4ぎAHey Jim, we cana4ぎa4д sell it if I dona4ぎa4д want to sell it.a4ぎ
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Companies: Accel Partners, Facebook, linkedin
People: Jim Breyer
Companies: Accel Partners, Facebook, linkedin
People: Jim Breyer
Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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