Facebook’s IPO: Who Got Rich

Facebook’s IPO: Who Got Rich
19/05/2012 by Todd Wasserman on Mashable

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuck, who owns 503.6 million shares, is now worth $19.14 billion, though his personal fortune surpassed the $20 billion mark several times.

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Accel Partners/Jim Breyer

Breyer and Accel got a total of $7.7 billion, a nice payout, considering Accel only invested $12.2 million in Facebook in 2005, according to reports.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Peter Thiel

Thiel's stake is now valued at $1.7 billion. A PayPal co-founder, Thiel was an early investor.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Yuri Milner

Milner's firm DST Global Limited got $1.7 billion in cash in Friday's IPO and a paper value of $3.3 billion.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg didn't sell any shares Friday. She has a paper value of $72.2 million.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Sean Parker

Parker also didn't sell any shares on Friday. His paper value of Facebook shares is now about $2.65 billion.

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Eduardo Saverin

The estranged Facebook co-founder has an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion. He will also save about $67 million in taxes by renouncing his U.S. citizenship, according to estimates.

Image courtesy Eduardo Saverin's Facebook.

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Greylock Partners

Greylock owns 1.5% of Facebook, a stake now worth bout $1.6 billion.

Image courtesy Greylock Partners.

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Bono

No one knows what Bono will make from the IPO, but Elevation Partners, his investment firm, made about $1.5 billion.

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David Choe

Choe, a graffiti artist who painted the walls of Facebook's first offices in Palo Alto, Calif., was paid in 3.77 million shares of the company,which are now worth $144.2 million.

OK, so Facebook’s IPO may have seemed like a lot of sound and fury for 23 cents, but there will still doubtlessly be some celebrating in Menlo Park Friday night.

That’s because a lot of Facebookers got fabulously rich on Friday. True, it probably would have been an even more festive occasion if the stock had hit the $54 that Twitter had predicted, but Facebook’s measly gain on its first day of trading was still worth $115.7 million to Mark Zuckerberg.

Here’s why Zuck and some other big Facebook investors still have cause to pop the Champagne.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AUDINDesign




Source: Mashable

“Tron” Gaming Mouse Glows Like a Light Cycle [VIDEO & PICS]

“Tron” Gaming Mouse Glows Like a Light Cycle [VIDEO & PICS]
 December 26, 2010 by Charlie White on Mashable
Here’s a gaming mouse that will make you feel like you’re driving a light cycle in the movie Tron: Legacy.

Not only does this ambidextrous pointing device from Razer look like some sort of implement from the far-off future; it sounds like one, too.

Tron: Legacy was the number-one movie in the U.S. last weekend, so this mouse is certain to attract the attention of fans. But will it measure up for gamers? Let’s get our hands on one.

Besides the fact that this is a wired mouse — a controversial attribute for a gaming mouse among aficionados — the one spec gamers will care most about is this mouse’s fine 5600 DPI 3.5G sensor. Its sensitivity is excellent, and its two extra buttons on each side are programmable for any function. So yes, its specs are gameworthy, though not groundbreaking.

It’s a shame that this $100 mouse has such a plastic feel to it. Its all-plastic construction feels just a little too light for my taste, and its left and right click sounds are slightly loud. Those quibbles aside, the mouse feels balanced in a medium-sized hand, and I got accustomed to it quickly.

Its claim to fame is its Disneyesque lighting and sound effects. I especially like the way the rubberized mouse wheel resembles the wheels on those Tron light cycles. And that lighting stays on all the time, except for a light blue taillight that glows only when the mouse’s laser sensor is engaged.

When you first plug it in, it makes whooshing sound effects and its lights flash, an odd routine that startled me a couple of times. Check out the video below to see and hear with that’s like. It’s fun to show that to your friends when you first get it, but thankfully, the noises can be turned off in the software controls as soon as the novelty has worn off.

The Tron Gaming Mouse is available for $100, but if you want to get the full effect, you can spend $30 more to get a set that includes a bioluminescent mat. Its most unusual characteristic is the way it displays a blue glow for a few moments wherever the mouse’s laser has shown onto it. Besides its snazzy landing-pad appearance, it has just the right amount of friction to perform as a suitable complement to the Tron mouse.

Sure, this is a Disney-licensed product that’s mostly a gimmick, but it’s a fun gimmick, and it looks way cool on the desktop. You might not want to whip this baby out at the office; but for your gaming center, it could be a suitable centerpiece for Tron fans.

Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse Mat

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse Mat

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Razer Tron Gaming Mouse Mat

Source: Mashable

What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised

What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised
May 6, 2012 by Sam Laird on Mashable

Try to guess America’s most engaging social network. Facebook? Wrong. Twitter? Wrong. Pinterest? Wrong again. According to comScore‘s most recent social networking data, from the month of March, the San Francisco based site Tagged engages users like no other service. It was the only site to finish in the top two in both of comScore’s engagement metrics.

Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes).

Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008.

The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join.

“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”

As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.

Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170.

With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow.

“If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time.

“Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.”

Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments.





Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci
Source: Mashable.com

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Google Motorola bid approved in EU and US

Google Motorola bid approved in EU and US

Motorola Droid Razr

US regulators have approved Google's $12.5bn (£7.9bn) bid for phone maker Motorola Mobility, hours after it won clearance from European authorities.

The European Commission ruled the deal would not raise competition issues in the market for operating systems for devices like mobile phones or tablets.

Regulators in the US agreed, although both authorities vowed to monitor the company and rivals' use of patents.

Approval from China, Taiwan and Israel is needed before the deal is completed.

Motorola split in two last year, prompting Google to bid for the section that makes phones and tablet computers in a bid to gain access to more than 17,000 of Motorola Mobility's patents.

'Important milestone'
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a statement that regulators did not think the deal would diminish competition.

But he added: "The commission will continue to keep a close eye on the behaviour of all market players in the sector, particularly the increasingly strategic use of patents."

Last month, European regulators launched an investigation into whether Samsung was using some of its key patents to hinder competitors.

Google vice-president Don Harrison said in a blog post the EU approval was an "important milestone" which moved the company closer to closing the deal.

Android access
"As we outlined in August, the combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android," he said.

"It will also enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences."

The European Commission had originally intended to rule on the deal by 10 January but delayed its decision after requesting more information.

It wanted to examine whether Google might favour Motorola Mobility by making it harder for big-selling handset manufacturers, like Samsung or HTC, to use its Android operating system.

However, the commission concluded: "It is unlikely that Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, a minor player in the European Economic Area."

Source: BBC