Zuckerberg wants only one thing –– for his personal wealth to go up. At one time he claimed he would be richest person in the world, but in recent years he’s slipped down to number 7 at a net worth of $54 billion. For most of us, that would be a lot of moneys, especially at 35 years old. But not Mark, he feels like he needs to catch up, needs another $60 billion or so.
He has built an amazing money making machine –– us. More than 1.9 billion people build content for free for Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp. Every time we click or like or browse, Zuck personally makes some money, actually more than anyone else. Think about that. Every time there’s a big argument in the world, he makes money.
He also has 57% of the voting rights for the company stock, so no board can police him or fire him.
All the capital and manpower he deploys is designed to make him more money.
Most people who know me know that I am not a fan of Zuckerberg. To me he epitomises the opposite of what I feel is an evolved, empathetic leader, the kind I admire and advocate. He is selfish, dishonest, arrogant and many more negative adjectives I could rattle off but won’t.
So I’m actually intrigued by his new crisis, something he can’t pay off the government to fix for him.
His new crisis –– his employees digitally revolting from the company, potential employees declining offers of half a million dollars a year to work there –– is yet to play out. Currently he is being selfish, dishonest, and arrogant, and hiding behind his claims that he is just a platform and all the other answers he and his pR team (Sheryl Sandberg) come up with.
But the obvious truth is it’s about his pocketbook. Unlike some other Silicon Valley CEOs who care about more than one thing, Mark will hold out for a long time.
He’s already shown his true colours to his employees.
But the reason this is different is that he can’t afford to lose too many employees. When it starts falling apart, the best employees leave first. They’ve already been leaving for years.
This could spell the beginning of the end. Most big Silicon Valley companies follow the business bell curve, and dominate for a very short time before slipping back down the other side. Ten years is a long time, especially for something as generic as Facebook. It’s been 15.
Why aren’t there 10 Facebooks by now? Many have tried, most got squashed.
Companies become stale, get some new competition, get taken over by newer technology. It’s almost a form of courtesy in Silicon Valley tech to move over eventually and let someone else lead, let consumers have the newer, better project. Maybe reinvent yourself in a few years and make a comeback like Apple did.
But not Mark. He has decided to kill or buy any competitor than comes along. He doesn’t care about the Silicon Valley courtesy of the past. He has wooed and manipulated our federal government, starting with Obama before he was president. He’s now good friends with Donald Trump. No one will force an anti-trust investigation or try to break up Facebook.
Along with Sheryl he tries to manipulate the minds of his users and employees, trick them into feeling a little bit sad or negative, keeping the employees intoxicated with stock options, actual alcohol, perks and good old rah rah.
It’s possible this will now start to unravel. It would take a perfect storm –– enough employees waking up and leaving, a more honest government and possibly some new technologies getting a little sunlight. TikTok? An unlikely scenario, but it could happen.