Sometimes little things add up and point to something big. Something serious and something funny may mean Facebook stands on the cusp of making Mark Zuckerberg and his backers very rich.
Following the goings-on in Silicon Valley from a sensible distance means relying on a broad swath of resources for information. Sometimes a big name online player deigns to share some tidbit with everyone through official channels. Other times, it’s like being Mulder in a world where everyone’s a Cigarette Smoking Man.
Valleywag’s new editor, Owen Thomas, played the role of The Lone Gunmen with a couple of posts on the self-described “tech gossip rag.” He pointed out a pair of Facebook-related items that indicate Facebook’s countdown to being publicly traded could be ticking rapidly.
Thomas noted a Facebook job posting for a stock administration manager. Assuming the post isn’t an elaborate misdirection by Zuckerberg and company, Facebook needs someone who knows a lot stock options and a host of SEC regulations.
The other item on Valleywag centered on a video by Zuckerberg’s sister. Though the video has since been taken down at Facebook’s request, Thomas recounted the gist of it:
Speaking the truth, of course, is a dangerous activity. Especially if your company is about to go public. The SEC frowns on any truth-telling that goes on outside the formal bounds of an S-1 prospectus.
And that makes “Valleyfreude,” whose lyrics mock Facebook competitor Friendster and profanely brag about how Facebook rejected a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo, a dangerous document for SEC regulators to see.
Randi Jayne, Zuckerberg’s sister, also works for Facebook. A gleeful video trashing the competition may or may not offend the briefcase-toting suits at the SEC, but considering the uproar over a Playboy interview the Google guys gave before their IPO, Zuckerberg and the hand-rubbing Facebookers probably don’t want to replay that scenario themselves.
