Hello Facebook, Your CEO’s Gone Missing!
Karen is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
Someone forgot to give Mark Zuckerberg the memo that says there’s more to being CEO of a publicly traded company than collecting a fat paycheck. A lot more.
Although many investors wish he wasn’t, Mark Zuckerberg is the face of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) (no pun intended). As CEO, he gets the kudos when the company does well and takes the heat when things go wrong. Facebook’s IPO launch was a comedy of errors and it’s been going downhill ever since. Unfortunately, Mr. Zuckerberg has done a disappearing act rivaling Houdini, leaving Facebook without a leader at this critical time.
If Mr. Zuckerberg wants his company to survive, he must take control of Facebook and implement serious damage control. The first issue he needs to address is the damaged caused by Facebook’s skewed IPO stock valuation. The initial $38.00 price was primarily based on revenue estimates earned through click advertising from Facebook's 900 million members. But of that 900 million, 50 million accounts are either fake or duplicate, and only slightly half, or 480 million users, access their account daily. Due to Facebook’s privacy policy, there is no clear way to keep track of who is or is not clicking on the ads, resulting in overstated advertising estimates. Mr. Zuckerberg needs to announce revised revenue figures to calm investors and stabilize the stock’s price.
With no one at Facebook’s helm, the headhunters have come out in droves. In response to the company’s perceived weakness, rivals are wooing Facebook employees like love-sick suitors. First to strike has been CEO Ben Silbermann of Pinterest, who just hired away Facebook’s VP of Operations Don Faul to be Pinterest’s new operations manager. Facebook can ill afford a defection of key personnel and experienced employees to their competitors.
Facebook is floundering, appearing to tangent off in many directions at once. Is Facebook going to try and remain the dominant social network? Is the company going into the smartphone business? Are members going to be charged fees?
We’ve already found Waldo, but where is Mr. Zuckerman? He needs to wind up his honeymoon, his extended vacation, or whatever he’s doing and get back to minding the store! To become and remain successful, Facebook must have their version of a Jamie Dimon at the helm. If Mark Zuckerberg isn’t up to the task, then it’s up to the board of directors to find a new captain to successfully navigate the company through its troubled waters.
kprogers has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.If you have questions about this post or the Fool’s blog network, click here for information.
