The short answer is no, because I’ve frequently read that only Mark Zuckerberg can remove Mark Zuckerberg as CEO of Facebook… he inserted that clause when he did either the Accel round or the Meritech/Greylock deal.
But few companies have seen public opinion (read bloggers and journalists) change so swiftly as Facebook. Personally, I think the “Mark Zuckerberg is Jesus Moses” talk was overdone, and equally, the “Zuckerberg is the Devil” talk is crazy too.
But between what Kara Swisher and Henry Blodget have written in the past few days, something tells me that the “between the lines” interpretation is that Zuckerberg’s days as CEO are numbered; well, to put it differently, his days might not be numbered, but the VCs should consider that. And frankly, even if the paperwork says the VCs can’t do that, with enough pressure and what not, anything can happen.
Kara writes:
There is little question in my mind–and it has to be going through the minds of all Facebook employees and investors–that all this should be considered a major fumble on the part of 20-something CEO Zuckerberg, whose judgment on how to handle both Beacon and in waging the pointless lawsuit against 01238 seems deeply flawed at best.
More on that key issue for Facebook here in BoomTown next week.
Then, in Henry’s post, you see a “Walter Mossberg” (is it the Walt Mossberg? - Kara’s partner in crime at All Things D.) comment:
Time for Accel and Greylock to get a new CEO with a moral compass. Breyer can hopefully learn from this. Fast up can mean fast down.
I don’t think this will actually happen, of course, it might… but just because there’s a snowstorm outside and it’s fun to discuss, whom do you think - if anyone - should be brought it to serve as CEO of Facebook?
Subscribe:
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Yeah, because nothing works better than bringing in a suit.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Someone with a clue would be good. Nor does that necessarily require a suit. Perhaps a senior exec from Google?
While Mark is smart and ambitious from what Jeff Jarvis says, I think he lacks wisdom. Nor does wisdom necessarily come with age. Perhaps he will learn wisdom but I doubt it. Not from the impression of the guy that I have.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
[…] 4, 2007 Watchmojo, Techconfidential, Valleywag, et al can’t seem to get enough of the Mark Zuckerberg […]