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housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More » -
birthday wishes
Happy Birthday, Mark Zuckerberg! Welcome to the Rest of Your Life
What do you get the social-networking mogul who has everything? Click to see Valleywag's gift to the 25-year-old blunderkind CEO of Facebook! More » -
Financey
Sheryl Sandberg's Magic Facebook Finances
Facebook is already missing its CFO. Sheryl Sandberg, the social network's publicity-hungry COO now tells BusinessWeek that the money-losing social network is "profitable." Not because its revenues exceed its expenses, but because she says so! More » -
rumormonger
Who's Leaving Facebook Next?
The wheels seem to be coming off at Facebook after the ouster of CFO Gideon Yu. We hear another executive is leaving the social network to spend more time with his family. More » -
exits
Cash-Crunched Facebook Loses Its CFO
One by one, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has driven away his cofounders and close confidants. The latest to go: chief financial officer Gideon Yu. More » -
nerdfight
The Facebook Faithful Turn Against Mark Zuckerberg's Redesign
When will Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wake up and realize he made an idiotic mistake by copying Twitter? The Facebook-loving masses loathe the new look — as do Facebook's best pals in Silicon Valley. More » -
morale
Employees: No 'Awesomeness' at Facebook
Mean-mom Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, bringer of order to Mark Zuckerberg's children's crusade, has turned the too-cool-for-school startup into a place where employees fill out employee surveys. At Facebook, though, they call them "awesomeness" surveys. More » -
exclusive
Another Exec Unfriends Facebook
Facebook is fun to use. But it's not a fun place to work — as confirmed by the defection of Net Jacobsson, a key executive in Facebook's effort to cash in on your life online.
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schadenfreude
Facebook's Value: $3.7 Billion and Dropping
What's Facebook really worth? The fast-growing social network is adding to its 150 million users effortlessly. But revenues aren't growing as easily. And that has Mark Zuckerberg's company tied up in legal and financial knots. More » -
politics
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook stuck with each other
President-elect Barack Obama has picked Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, rather than former Harvard University president Larry Summers, as Treasury secretary. That makes it unlikely that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who worked for Summers when he ran the Treasury for Bill Clinton, will return to Washington. -
cubicle culture
Facebook less like a college dorm than you'd think
One imagines Facebook as a geek utopia, where hackers who dropped out of college play Rock Band all day, then stay up all night coding. The reality: It's as depressingly Dilbertian as any other company — and COO Sheryl "No-Fun" Sandberg is making sure it keeps getting more boring every day. Take the latest tiff we happened to hear about — in the social network's business-development department, the home of glad-handing charmers who negotiate deals. You'd think they'd be experts at sucking up to each other. Tim Kendall (shown left), the company's director of monetization — Valleyspeak for "guy who comes up with ideas to make money" — was left fuming after his boss, VP Dan Rose, instructed him in the art of time management. More » -
mark zuckerberg
Why Facebook is still hiring
The revolving door at Facebook has been swinging less of late. Two top designers, Katie Geminder and Eston Bond, left in August and September. But the economic crisis seems to have scared the rest of the social network's staff into their seats, wondering when the ax will fall. There have been no layoffs, but we keep hearing tips from inside there's a hiring freeze on. In fact, there's not: Facebook's unofficial second-in-command, COO Sheryl Sandberg, asked CEO Mark Zuckerberg to institute a freeze, and got turned down cold. More » -
facebook
Sheryl Sandberg's assistant quits, too
What does Camille Hart know about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's plans that we don't? Hart, Sandberg's longtime executive assistant who followed her from Google to Facebook, has left the company after less than a year, we've learned, confirming a note left by commenter insidefb. We can't wait to hear Sandberg's spin on this departure. Remember her now-classic line about the series of executives leaving Facebook this summer? "There is no specific underlying story behind the few execs leaving our company," More » -
politics
Washington could call for Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook's COO is mounting yet another PR offensive. But not on behalf of her current employer, though it could use some good press. No, Sheryl Sandberg is defending former boss Larry Summers against charges of sexism. Summers, who was Treasury Secretary under Clinton, is being talked up for the same role in Barack Obama's Cabinet. A controversial speech Summers gave as president of Harvard University — speculating that innate differences might have to do with women's lack of progress in math and science — could ruin his chances. Hence Sandberg's timely defense. More » -
stats
Facebook grows 20 percent in less than three months
At a Salesforce.com event, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that the social network has hit 120 million users — up from 100 million in late August. The company is succeeding in its stated plan to emphasize growth over revenues. A pity that, with the lack of a strong advertising business to support the growth, more users just means more spending on servers. -
breakdowns
Facebook's ad targeting badly misses the mark
Google and Yahoo target search ads based on mere keywords. How passé! Facebook's targeted ads, which draw on the personal information users enter into their profiles, are clearly the future, right? If only the company's engineers could competently write the code that targets those ads. A Facebook advertiser who has spent thousands of dollars on campaigns targeted by age and country says that the site's new reporting tools for advertisers have exposed a serious problem: Either the targeting routines are broken, or the reporting is completely off. An ad meant for U.K. teens went mostly to the U.S. and other European countries instead. A campaign meant to be placed in front of Irish users saw 1 in 14 ads go elsewhere. It's a poor reflection on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, whose expertise in running Google's automated ad systems was touted as her main qualification for the job. Here are screenshots of some of the advertisers' reports: More » -
Fright Masks
The 5 scariest people in Silicon Valley
Halloween's on a Friday. With people already more worried about keeping their jobs than actually doing them, you might as well plan on writing the workday off. Trying to figure out a clever costume in which to pester your remaining coworkers? Valleywag has done the work for you. Print up one of these masks, designed by Valleywag interim creative director Richard Blakeley, on the finest-quality office paper you can steal from the supply closet, follow our tips on how to act the part, and you're good to go. Select from our list: More » -
Fright Masks
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
How to wear it: Black power suit and a kicky necklace. More » -
politics
Valley homophobes still drafting Yes on Prop 8 response ad
BoomTown reporter Kara Swisher rappelled from a skylight at Jerry Yang's secret hideout to score this draft copy of an ad, in which a bunch of tech bigwigs come out in favor of gay marriage — or at least in opposition to Proposition 8, a California state ballot initiative which would ban it. No Valley company in its right mind would be seen opposing gay marriage, so why bother? More » -
meltdowns
The Facebook layoffs
Mark Zuckerberg's college-spawned startup is supposed to hire its 1,000th employee sometime this year. I don't think that's going to happen. If Zuckerberg isn't talking about layoffs behind closed doors, one of his executives must be brave enough to bring it up. I don't think the company is going to issue pink slips. But I do think its headlong growth in employees will come crashing to a halt before the end of the year. More » -
facebook apps
Facebook cheats its developers, again
It has taken Facebook more than a year to pick the 25 winners of its FBFund grants competition, who have received $25,000 prizes. And now those 25 can try for $250,000 more, according to Facebook's FAQ: "The top 25 applications [in round I] will receive $25k grant. After Round I the top 25 may resubmit to apply for one of five $250k grants awarded in Round II." So if you win both grants, you get $275K, right? Wrong! More » -
Ted Ullyot
Is Facebook's new lawyer a Harvard-legacy hire?
A Harvard degree seems practically required at Facebook these days; founder Mark Zuckerberg never finished his, but COO Sheryl Sandberg and top flack Elliot Schrage have theirs. Newly hired general counsel Ted Ullyot, the veteran of several legal scandals while serving in the Bush Administration, has one, too. But we noticed something curious: Reports of his hire at Facebook had him graduating Harvard in 1989. Past employers, like Time Warner and Kirkland & Ellis say he graduated in 1990. I called up Harvard's news office and asked which one it was. It's complicated. More » -
lost in translation
Mark Zuckerberg puts Sheryl Sandberg in her place
Want to know the ultimate putdown in Silicon Valley? Calling someone a "good manager." Organizational competence is a necessary commodity; risk-takers, entrepreneurs, "visionaries" are the ones who get the glory, the press, and the outsized financial returns. With that in mind, read this excerpt from an interview Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg conducted with the Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, Germany's leading business newspaper, as an exercise in damning with faint praise: More » -
quotable
Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook's business model
At a conference for magazine publishers, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg all but admitted her company still has no idea how it's going to make money, besides letting Microsoft broker ads for it. "We need to find a new model and new metrics," she told attendees at the American Magazine Conference. It's a classic move from the White House veteran's political background: If you're not winning by existing rules, move the goalposts. (Photo by Doug Goodman/AdAge) -
rumormonger
Jonathan Heiliger, top Facebook exec, may leave
Will the last tech executive to leave Facebook please turn off the lights at the datacenter? We hear Jonathan Heiliger, Facebook's operations VP charged with running the social network's expansive server network, has been interviewing for other jobs. He just completed a year at the company, which is usually when employees' stock-and-options packages begin to vest. Odd: We thought Heiliger might be happier at the company with the appointment of Marc Andreessen to Facebook's board. More » -
christopher cox
Sandberg critic escapes from Sandberg oversight at Facebook
Another Facebook employee has managed to figure out how to get out from under Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's thumb — and he didn't even have to leave Facebook to do it! Christopher Cox, Facebook's director of human resources, has gotten a new job as the company's director of product. In April, told Fortune about Sandberg's entry into the company: "It was like Sheryl came and kicked everybody in the ass and said this is going to be hard. And then gave everybody a hug." Afterwards, Cox told colleagues he "felt sick after saying that," but that he had to because Sandberg had told him to. Putting an HR guy in charge of product sounds implausible, but Cox, before running HR, was an early engineer at the company and helped launch the site's crucial News Feed feature. It's not a promotion, but it must be a relief. -
great moments in pr
Facebook's Irish tax haven to advance world peace
Grant Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg this much credit — she's endlessly creative in her explanations. Take her reasoning for opening up an international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland: "The talent pool in Dublin is world-class and recruiting local talent will help us better understand the needs of local users and the regional dynamics that, in turn, can give us better insight into what features matter most.” What she really means: It's a cheap place to hire a lot of drones in customer support. And Ireland's tax rates are rock-bottom low. If Facebook ever makes money, it'll be set. Kudos to Sandberg for dressing up a cost-savings maneuver as a way to advance international understanding. -
Ted Ullyot
Facebook idealist crushed by Sandberg's realpolitik hire
Ted Ullyot, the neoconservative lawyer who served as Alberto Gonzales's former chief of staff, is not Facebook's first general counsel, as had been reported. Facebook cleared the way for Ullyot by sending former top lawyer Rudy Gadre packing in July. Gadre left "to spend more time with his family." Gadre is spending more time with his family by working for a Seattle startup called Evri. Here's one theory: Facebook's politically minded COO, Sheryl Sandberg, may have had Ullyot lined up for the job, but waited to finalize the hire until the Justice Department released its report on Gonzales's firings of U.S. attorneys general for political reasons. Notably, Ullyot's name does not appear in the report. A tipster tells us his "high-level insider" friend at Facebook isn't happy about the swap anyway, given Ullyot's controversial political background. Naturally, he blames Sheryl Sandberg: More » -
facebook
Clintonista Sheryl Sandberg backs Bush's Treasury Secretary
During an Advertising Week panel on Monday, a moderator asked Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg how the Wall Street meltdown will effect online spending. Sandberg delivered a carefully crafted response to an expected question touching upon her time at the Treasury during the Clinton years, the Mexican peso, the Asian crises of the 1990s, and contagion, a fancy new term the rest of us can break out at dinner parties. When she's so comfortable talking global economics, why did Sandberg ever leave Washington D.C.? Look how smoothly she endorses Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Most obvious of all: She's clearly enjoying herself. We don't get the same vibe from Sandberg when she's talking up Facebook. -
great moments in customer service
Facebook kicks out users with weird names
Elmo Keep is a legal name, but the Australian woman who uses it got booted from Facebook because of it anyway. Facebook's customer sevice drones didn't let her back on the site — and in fact wouldn't tell her why she was banned. Until she mailed them copies of her passport and driver's license, always a risky proposition — Facebook once accidentally published a user's driver's license under similar circumstances. This happens to lots of people with weird names like Ms. Keep's, because part of Facebook's pitch to advertisers is that on the site, users are "authentically themselves" and if they're not, as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg puts it in this clip: "We kick you off." The irony, of course, is that people with unusual names often decide to sign up with more common fake names. The Sydney Morning Herald came up with a list of real names that got users banned from the site: More » -
free advice
3 ways Facebook could impress Madison Avenue
NEW YORK — Facebook is making a huge push during Advertising Week, an industrywide series of events for media buyers and publishers taking place now. Mark Zuckerberg's marketing minions bought a full-page ad in the program; sponsored sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings; and put Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on a panel. They're throwing a party Thursday night; Bob Marley's kid, Ziggy Marley, will be the entertainment. "We're finally sponsoring something!" I overhead one Facebook employee gush to another on Monday. It's all a big effort to reintroduce Facebook to the New York ad agencies after Zuckerberg botched last year's first try. More » -
online advertising
Facebook, YouTube execs whine about slow online ad adoption
YouTube's Jordan Hoffner, a content dealmaker for the site, told a conference in San Jose yesterday that it's "disturbing" how little advertisers spend online, considering how much time people spend online now. On an Advertising Week panel here in New York, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg shared the complaint, telling the audience: "We are getting a smaller share of budgets than the time consumers are spending would say. Consumers are spending something like 28, 29 percent of the time online, but online spend is like 8 percent of global advertising spend and about 10 percent in the U.S." Maybe the squeaky wheels will get some grease. But Jordan, Sheryl: the big reason online spending is so low relative to how much time consumers are spending online is that those consumers spend much of their time on Facebook and YouTube, which haven't come out with ad products media buyers consider worth their money yet. -
stats
Harvard MBAs the most toxic investment on Wall Street
Ray Soifer, a top-rated banking analyst based in Arizona, has an explanation for the crisis gripping the stock market: Blame Harvard! Soifer has long studied the proportion of Harvard MBAs who pursue careers in finance; when more than 3 in 10 head for Wall Street, it's time for investors to sell, he says. The implication: Harvard MBAs, in aggregate, subtract value. Alas, his study comes out once a year, so it's no use to short-term investors. But we'd love to know what Soifer would find if he studied the correlation of Harvard MBAs heading to the Valley with venture-capital returns. The results would be edifying — especially for investors in Facebook, whose Harvard dropout CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is currently guided by COO Sheryl Sandberg, Harvard Business School '95. (Photo by Harvard Business School) -
clips
Sheryl Sandberg shows us who's in charge at Facebook
NEW YORK — We've heard plenty about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's management style without ever seeing it firsthand. Until today. Before joining an Advertising Week panel on stage at the Paley Center for Media, Sandberg rounded up a coterie of Facebookers in the lobby and gave them something of a motivational speech. I was there with my handy Flip camera to capture the two-minute speech. Unfortunately, the lobby was loud and unless any of you are lipreaders (email us if you are), we won't know what Sandberg said. Still, I think there's plenty of body language to examine as Facebook's real boss holds court with her minions and their heavy bags. Does their silence speak of admiring attention, resentment or fear? -
great moments in pr
How the Googlers have changed Mark Zuckerberg
When users revolted against a Facebook redesign in 2006, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a post in response titled "Calm down. Breathe. We hear you." In it, Zuck came off defensive and condescending. "We're not oblivious of the Facebook groups popping up about this (by the way, Ruchi is not the devil)," he wrote. Now, Zuckerberg's written another post defending the site's latest redesign, which more users — though a far smaller percentage of them — also don't like. It's titled "Thoughts on the Evolution of Facebook." It reads like the inoffensive pablum you'd read on, say, the Official Google Blog. Why is that? More » -
stats
58 percent of Internet users haven't even heard of social networks
Sheryl Sandberg's right! We've teased Facebook's overserious COO for talking up Facebook's need to sign up more users before figuring out how it's going to make billions of dollars off of them. But analytics firm eMarketer says only 42 percent of the Internet-using world knows about social networks. Translation: A lucky 58 percent are not burdened with worrying about whether they've made anybody's top friends list. Heck, while we're at it: Less than a quarter of the world's 6.6 billion people have access to the Internet. That means 5.97 billion people have no reason to have ever heard of Sandberg, let alone blame her for global warming, violence in the Middle East, and cat allergies. Not yet, anyway. -
We Read Facebook So Sheryl Sandberg Doesn't Have To
Facebook security a laughing matter for cofounder
Officially, Facebook is treating the onslaught of viruses piggybacking on the social network's popularity as a very, very serious matter. We're talking Sheryl Sandberg serious. Facebook's press statement reads: "We are investigating every report, removing false content, blocking bogus links and addressing the concerns of our users. These efforts have limited the affected users to a small percentage of those on Facebook.” The unofficial response from cofounder Dustin Moskovitz, posted on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook profile, is much more fun: More » -
party report
Spy photos from the Facebook toga party
PALO ALTO — How was Facebook's toga party, held to celebrate the company's 100 millionth user? We couldn't sit back and just read the status updates. So we sent a Valleywag spy deep inside the social network's headquarters. At last, the answer to the question, "What do you get when you mix 5 kegs of beer and a case of champagne with hundreds of geeks?" Alas, we just missed Zuckerberg — he's not known as a big drinker. But even COO Sheryl Sandberg, known for quashing every sign of fun at the company, showed, and grudgingly allowed herself to be wrapped up in a toga. The photos: More » -
nerdspotting
Facebook holds toga party to celebrate 100 million users
To celebrate the company reaching 100 million users, Facebook employees are holding an impromptu toga party at a park near the company's office on Waverly in downtown Palo Alto, a tipster reports. (Dave Morin, Facebook's ubiquitous evangelist, also Twittered about the party, so it must be true!) Is this the last hurrah for the collegiate youth culture 24-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg created, before COO Sheryl "No Fun" Sandberg moves the company to an anonymous office complex next year? It's hard to imagine Facebookers donning sheets and running around the manicured lawns of the bland former Hewlett-Packard building. Here, Sheryl — somehow we can't picture you taking part in toga parties even when you were in college. For you, from eHow, some step-by-step instructions for holding a toga party. Bonus points to any reader who sends in a photo of Zuckerberg in a toga. (Photo by andyfitz) -
facebook
Meet Fake Sheryl Sandberg
Maybe you haven't heard, but there's drama. Paul and Melissa have started a breakaway Leave Sheryl Sandberg Alone movement, dividing the 'Wag. Jackson and I don't know what to say. Someone going by Fake Sheryl Sandberg does. She begins her comment on Owen's last post:"Dear Owen Tummy" More »






































