Anyone who’s stopped by here and read anything I’ve posted about FnBook might get the idea I don’t like them. Despise is too mild a word. I’m no fan of Zuckerberg and I don’t like how he runs things. What I particularly don’t like is their overhanded nanny-fingered, control freakish approach to “free” speech. It is a platform. The speech belongs to the poster and is none of FnBook’s bidness. So… what to do about it. Well, I’ve been thinkin’
What if WE owned FB? I know. I know. It sounds farfetched, and maybe it is. I looked it up and they have somewhere around 2.4 Billion shares outstanding currently priced at $237.09 each. I don’t have that kind of cash around, not even under the mattress. (I looked just to be sure.) If 100 Million of us bought shares we’d each have to buy about 12 shares each to pick up a controlling interest in the company. I could swing 12 shares, maybe even a few more, if need be. But why?
Well, here’s the thing… if conservatives owned the company we could call some shots. In fact, we may not need a controlling interest to make some serious noise but I, for one, would love to give MZ the boot. Sure, he’d shuffle off with a pocketful of cash but I’d think it would be worthwhile. We could elect a board and install a CEO who would promote free speech instead of micromanaging the users. Heck, we could cut costs by firing all of those jerks who scrutinize our posts. Here’s another thing…
Facebook has never paid a dividend. Now, the excuse for this is they are still in a “high growth” stage and are spending all their cash on acquiring other internet businesses. Well, okay, fine, but you know? I don’t give a whit about that. If enough of agree, we could band together and just say “no”. You’re going to get your sticky hands of OUR money and cough up some profit. Wouldn’t that be sweet?
Anyway, sure, it’s crazy. It’s speculative but it is entirely doable. We could OWN Facebook! Literally. Best of all, this is not something we would have to convince or cajole anyone to do. I might just go out and buy my shares. After all the stock just went “on sale”.