I helped negotiate the $22B sale to Facebook, Today, I regret it

“I made a ton of money by selling out ten years ago and, after really thinking about it, I realized that I became part of the very thing I was fighting against.”

Stop me if you’ve seen this before.

We really thought Facebook was just our pal and wanted to help us out. We never thought the 22 billion dollars they handed us was because they wanted to profit off of it.

What a brave guy for speaking out from the super yacht on the private lake of his super mansion estate that Facebook bought him.

I'm not against rich people or even selling out. This guy is full of shit though

> Nobody knew in the beginning that Facebook would become a Frankenstein monster that devoured user data and spat out dirty money.

That's a weird statement to make when talking about a sale that happened 10 years after "the beginning". Facebook didn't change between 2014 and now. To everyone paying attention it was clear that Facebook was making empty promises while providing 20 billion counterarguments.

Everyone finds their moral compass after they get their FU money.

This is going to be an unpopular, controversial opinion. But do try to explain rather than downvoting. ( Not that I care about the Karma points, I would much rather it didn't fall to the bottom of the thread )

Why is this kind of, what I would called hypocrisy, is becoming extremely common specifically in the Tech Industry. And if I might even add, American Tech Industry.

The end of the thread wasn't an apology to his wrongdoing, if there were any. It was an introduction to his own app. HalloApp.

And the Statement about Facebook in 2014. This might have worked in the mainstream media when no one ( as in public opinion ) knew about Facebook's so called tracking. ( The word tracking means different thing to different people ). But Facebook was surely one of the most hated company in the tech industry and HN. i.e You have been warned, but you ignore it. ( Pretty much like Russia and China )

Color me extremely skeptical. The supporting article published on WSJ is strangely schitzopheric [0] and an advertisement for HalloApp.

> Users who violate the rules must talk to a “conflict coordinator” and read documents about why their behavior was problematic before they can post again. These moves are intended to “lay a foundation for users and set a different expectation” for how users should behave online, Ms. Austin said.

Not sure if I ever want to use this app. I don't mind some moderation (like HN), but this is crossing the dystopian line for me especially when groups are limited to 50 people. That means, misinformation/disinformation/echo-chambers are formed on the most resonant groups of people lead by "chief conflict coordinators". You're naive if you think these conflict coordinators hired from Silicon Valley are unbiased, neutral and honest arbitrators of truth.

[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/social-media-startups-take-aim-...

BS;

"How WhatsApp made money was by charging users $1 to download the app.

And Facebook (said they) supported our mission & vision."

And how the hell you thought you are going to survive with that business model? You were growing like crazy with millions of new users and millions of messages being sent everyday. You thought annual subscription fee of $1 after a free first year was going to keep you up and running?! That's just hard to believe.

Regarding the mission and the vision; they probably agreed with you on a mission and vision to "make the world more open and connected" not on your vision "No mining user data", "No ads (ever)", "No cross-platform tracking".

"FB and their management agreed and we thought they believed in our mission."

You thought that Facebook a colossal public company is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on building your infrastructure, on maintaining it and on innovating(introducing new features) and at the same time earn pennies from it. Again hard to believe that you were that naive.

"Tech companies need to admit when they have done wrong.

Nobody knew in the beginning that Facebook would become a Frankenstein monster that devoured user data and spat out dirty money.

We didn’t either."

>Nobody knew in the beginning that Facebook would become a Frankenstein monster that devoured user data and spat out dirty money.

You got acquired in 2014 and already by that time Facebook was racking in billions from advertising which was made possible from gathering people's personal data and then using it to create ad solutions for advertisers >>> YOU KNEW IT.

WhatsApp was hugely responsible for the spread of violent propaganda in India that led to hundreds of deaths (possibly thousands). And Pakistan. And Thailand. And Myanmar.

And WhatsApp didn't do anything while Neeraj and the original team were in charge. It wasn't until after FB acquired them that changes were made.

So basically, not only is this guy crying about spilled milk...but it seems he's more concerned about people's data being exploited after he got his FU money than his deliberate failure to make changes that would have saved hundreds of lives in multiple countries.

Think about how those who helped negotiate Instagram's 1B sale to Facebook must feel! /s

Seriously this is like the regrets of the 0.01%ers. There should be a footnote every time a wealthy or powerful individual talks about regrets.

STFU

These vapid statements are meaningless if they keep the money. Talk to me once you’ve atoned for your sins. Donate the money, whatever.

This is so ridiculous as there’s nothing new known about Facebook today that wasn’t known 10 years ago, to anyone who wanted to know.

This is like a Swiss banker talking about how they regret hiding Nazi gold while keeping it all. It just seems so ridiculous.

Any founders who sell out and believe what the buyers tell them are crazy.

Do you really think the buyers care about your vision? Do you really think they are going to keep their promises?

The buyer is going to do everything they can to make their $22B back and try to make an extra $900B on top of it.

Man discovers loadsamoney can't make him sleep better at night.

These are called ‘crocodile tears’