Facebook Roadshow Comes Home to Palo Alto
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Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman are all scheduled to attend the event today, which is scheduled for noon Pacific Time.
There's an impression among the people I've spoken to on background that these attendees will be particularly interested in hearing from Zuckerberg about his long-term vision of the company — perhaps more than say money managers in Boston. (Perhaps that's behind the company's decision for Zuckerberg to sit out that presentation and be front and center at this one.)
Sources tell me about two hundred people are expected to attend, about a third the number of the New York roadshow, and about the same size as the meeting in Boston. In addition to the Silicon Valley investment community, this meeting is drawing money managers from San Francisco and throughout California — there's no stop on the road show in Los Angeles.
Though everyone will arrive at the hotel to register a noon, the event won't actually start until 12:45 p.m. PT. Facebook learned a lesson from the negative reception to the videoit played at its first presentation in New York City, and will "definitely" not be playing it here, according to sources. The presentation from the three principals will be short, likely just a few prepared remarks. The meat will be in a Q&A session, which I hear is scheduled to last 45 minutes.
One thing which will distinguishes this stop on the roadshow from all the others: Venture capitalists will be present. Are they coming because they're curious, or because they're interested in investing in the IPO? We'll see. But my sources tell me a handful of VCs asked Morgan Stanley if they could attend, and the bankers said yes. It'll also be interesting to see if board members, such as Marc Andreessenare in attendance — many of them are based not far from here. I hear that The Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham, a board member, is in Silicon Valley because of the company's acquisition of sharing website Digg.
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