Like YouTube, FaceBook Isn't For Sale

Facebook, having turned down at least one verified $1 billion buyout offer, is now saying they aren’t for sale. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and board member Peter Thiel aren’t stopping there, either. They’re also saying the company may build towards an IPO, and is worth at least $8 billion today.

Mark Zuckerberg:

We are not necessarily focused on what the exit is going to be – whether it’s selling the company or an IPO or when that’s going to be,” Zuckerberg said in an interview. “But we obviously think that there’s a lot of potential to keep growing.”

Peter Thiel:

“It’s going to remain an independent company,” Thiel said in an interview last week. “The plan is to actually build it, maybe at some point take it public, but definitely not to sell it.”

In July, the messaging coming from YouTube was nearly identical:

“Right now we’re just concentrating on proving the best user experience possible,” [CEO Chad] Hurley said. “We have no plans to sell.” As for an initial public offering, Hurley said, “If we have an opportunity to go public in the future that would be very exciting for us.” He also brushed aside reports that the value of the company jumped to $1 billion from $600 million because of his appearance at the Allen & Co. confab. “We’re not even focused on that,” he said. “There’s a lot of people talking about that in the blogs and in the media. A lot of this is news to us.”

YouTube sold to Google for $1.65 billion in October, two and a half months later.