Great article yesterday in the New York Times, Zuckerberg Remains the Undisputed Boss at Facebook. Zuckerberg is a rarity in Silicon Valley. He’s kept the venture capitalists at arms length and he’s kept his job. Like Bill Gates, he’s been able to grow his skills, from CEO of a small startup to CEO of one of the largest companies in the world (by market cap if its IPO is successful).
How unusual is he? Let’s take a look back at 2009, when Zuckerberg and Chad Hurley, the founder of YouTube, were interviewed at the World Economic Forum. One year after the interview, Hurley, who sold his company to Google in 2006, stepped down as CEO and is now in an advisory role. Back then interviewer/moderator Michael Arrington was convinced that Zuckerberg would be taken down a few notches by a Facebook-like competitor. Instead, Arrington himself was taken down. He sold his popular blog, TechCrunch, to AOL and then was forced out (or so it was rumored). Life can be harsh in Silicon Valley…unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg.
Predicting the Future of Facebook and YouTube from World Economic Forum on FORA.tv
Image courtesy of Guillaume Paumier