What the headline says, basically, according to two sources. That and multiple sources are telling me that a majority of Gowalla investors were cool with the deal being entirely in Facebook shares, because those are likely to be more profitable moving forward — as Facebook approaches IPO.
Other sources are saying that the “Investors vs. Founders” sentiment isn’t a reflection of the majority of Gowalla investors (Jason Calacanis wrote an entire blog post about this) and that the deal was done with full board backing. The team, many of which will not be moving on to Facebook, did not get a significantly better deal than investors I’m hearing.
During an interview at LeWeb, joint Gowalla investors Sean Parker and Shervin Pishevar went on the record saying that they were happy about the Gowalla deal, especially Parker, who already owns a lot of Facebook shares, obviously. “We’re both happy,” said Pishevar. “It’s a great outcome for Josh, as he was in a difficult and very competitive space against Foursquare.”
While he wouldn’t comment on any deal specifics, Gowalla founder Josh Williams told me in an email, “I am truly excited about moving forward. We’re going to build some awesome things in the days ahead.”
And we will likely be covering them. Woot.
Gowalla is the leading Social Guide to the world’s most loved places and cities. Its award-winning mobile app and website — paired with an ever-growing collection of socially-powered Guides to cities, parks and regions across the globe — as curated by the Gowalla community and experts like Disney and National Geographic — make it easy for friends and families to share and discover photos, experiences and recommendations on the go. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Gowalla was launched in 2009 and...
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