Facebook Revisted

When, last winter, I last discussed the potential for a sale of Facebook, I urged the company to jump at the purported opportunity to cash out for north of $1B. Times have changed, and so has my opinion. Facebook has opened itself up, both to new classes of users and in an open-source way that is leading to explosive growth in applications centered around Facebook. These events have made the site a far more useful means for organizing information and connecting with others. Hell, even this corporate tool - who went to college well before e-mail and the web - now has a Facebook page.

I don't know where these applications will get to, or whether they will ever make any money for those developing them. And the Facebook interface, despite having some very nice features, has some strange quirks, particularly around e-mail. Nonetheless, it appears to be building into something quite a bit more valuable than I would have imagined a few months back.

DealMaven

Discovered the DealMaven Blogs, which I've added to the short list of dealmaking links here at Corporate Tool. Lots of good stuff, particular for those starting out in development or banking, or anyone who spends a lot of time with financial analysis and modeling.

Corporate Dealmaker Conference

If you're in NYC in early October, I'll be speaking at the "Corporate Dealmaker's Forum" on October 2 at the Union League Club. It's a rare opportunity to exchange ideas with a bevy of other corporate development professionals - I'd be delighted to meet any Corporate Tool readers who can make it.

Also on the Corporate Dealmaker site is my latest print article, relating to a particular pet peeve of mine - unnecessary delay in getting deals done.

Whole Foods - New Leadership Needed

I love seeing stuff like this - Whole Foods founder and CEO, John Mackey, has - for some 8 years - been posting anonymous comments on the WFMI stock message board at Yahoo.

Mackey claims he "had fun doing it." Look, there's no question that stock boards are completely irrelevant to all but the most thinly-traded stocks, and at least so far there is no indication that Mackey did anything more than pseudonymonously pat himself on the back and generally sing the praises of the company. But what does it say of the judgment of the leader of major company that he would even look at stock boards, much less get his jollies posting on them using as an alias an anagram of his wife's name?

Whole Foods runs a hell of a grocery store, but they desparately need some adult supervision at corporate HQ.