What biz is all about...

Take a look at this nerd face (Zuckerberg, founder and chief of Facebook) and tell me how he managed to convince one of Google's top executives, Miss Sheryl Sandberg, to come and work for him. Then read FSJ's comments on the news.

Here's an excerpt. I believe he's darn right about the raison d'être of any of these social networking ventures for kids and nerdy adults...

'You have to remember what Facebook's core business is about. It's not about helping people stay in touch with friends or express themselves. It's not about changing the world or creating an ecosystem for small apps makers. It's not even about selling ads. Facebook is a vehicle through which a bunch of investors in the Valley hope to turn a small pile of money into a much bigger pile of money by selling shares in the public markets. That is Facebook's core business. That is its raison d'etre as they say in Latin. This is a company created by, for and about venture capitalists. It's not a company so much as it's a narrative. A fable. A fairy tale. Zuckerberg himself is incidental except that it makes the story a little better to have a boyish little Harvard dropout (cough Gates cough) in flip-flops and fleece jacket as CEO.

Worse yet, right now Facebook is a friggin Ponzi scheme, with Facebook's venture-funded apps partners making money primarily by selling ads to Facebook's other venture-funded apps partners. Infinite loop? Um yeah. Moreover, Facebook itself is being propped up and kept alive by the Borg, simply so it can serve as a thorn in Google's side. And frankly the Borg will be happy to keep this thing alive and to help Z-Boy and his backers make obscene billions as long as Facebook saps energy from Google and distracts them and draws away their talent. Z-Boy, clever fellow that he is, is happy to serve as the Borg's proxy in its war against Google, so long as he's richly compensated, which he will be. He spotted a war between giants and cleverly turned that to his own advantage. Well played, kid'

Honestly, this is one of Fake Steve's best stories. Ever.

PS. The Borg, for those of you who feel lost, is Microsoft's Gates, whereas the Z-Boy is Zuckerberg himself.