Facebook co-founder and CEO talks at TechCrunch Disrupt
Mark Zuckerberg is giving his first live interview since the company went public in May.
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Welcome to the Mark Zuckerberg/TechCrunch Disrupt live blog everyone. We're about 14 minutes from the start. So...please stay tuned for that. In the meantime, we'll have some commentary as we all wait.by Daniel Terdiman
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The anticipation builds as we prepare for Zuckerberg (and Michael Arrington, his interviewer) to arrive.
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Thanks for coming. This hall is packed.by Paul Sloan
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Hi all...so here's something I've been wondering about. Everybody’s got advice for Zuckerberg. I’ve already read several “here’s what Mark Z” needs to address or “Here’s what Mark Z should get asked” stories today. At this point, you gotta believe that he’s more than slightly fed up with all the armchair geniuses out there.by charles.cooper
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Let's all understand that is an ideal crowd for Mark. A packed house of techies and fans. They want to believe in Facebook. That said, Zuck will of course be talking to the world.by Paul Sloan
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The audience awaits the arrival of the great Zuck!
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Curious to see how he dresses for the occasion. My money's on standard Zuck sartorial style - especially with this crowd. But you're right, Paul; he's talking to the world - and yes, that includes the number crunchers on Wall Street.by charles.cooper
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So...will the event start on time? 2 minutes to go.by Daniel Terdiman
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Here's what I expect: Talk about the stock and more talk about the stock. Mobile, mobile and more about mobile. And, given the crowd, he might talk about Facebook's relationship with third-party developers.
Here's a recent piece I wrote about that topic: Lots of fear of Facebook.by Paul Sloan -
I hope his attire is (ahem) suitably irreverent to Wall Street.by Daniel Terdiman
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Of course, Arrington is doing the interview. And his shtick so far at Disrupt has been to ask all the billionaires about private jets and the like. I wonder if he'll keep that up with Zuck. I suppose probably not.by Daniel Terdiman
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Looks like we're starting.by Daniel Terdiman
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This audience is packed with people who build apps for Facebook. Remember Dalton Caldwell, who penned an open letter about how he says he was treated by Facebook.by Paul Sloan
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Big opportunity for Zuckerberg to clear the air about various & sundry.by charles.cooper
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Notice, too, that this talk is going on after the close of trading.by Paul Sloan
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Indication how keen the interest - the place is standing room only.by charles.cooper
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Since the IPO on May 18, Zuckerberg has been widely criticized, and beyond the quarterly earnings call hasn't said much. Now he can face his critics and let them know how he plans to generate some serious mobile revenueby dan.farber
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Markets are closed but after hours trading continues. Watch the stock tank.by Nick G
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Zuck's influence is all through this conference. Matt Cohler, first product person at Facebook, was on this morning. Reid Hoffman was one of the first investors.by Paul Sloan
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Here we go: T-shirt, no hoodie. He's playing to home crowd, not Wall Streetby Paul Sloan
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We're now 5 minutes late...but about to start.by charles.cooper
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Give the man a chance. He's certainly prepped with the right answers. Go Mark!by Larry Levois
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Michael Arrington is welcoming Zuck. Cameras everywhere.by Paul Sloan
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First up : IPO.by Paul Sloan
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Says Zuck: "just get right into it."by Paul Sloan
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Mark Zuckerberg (right) with Michael Arrington.
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Zuckerberg: The performance of the stock has obviously been disappointing. ...the commitment we've made it make the world more open and connected ...for the long term. The next 3 to 5 years is really going to be how well we do with mobile.by Paul Sloan
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He's talking about how "fundamentally good mobile is for us." it's one of the main things that misunderstood for us, he says. Why? there are more users. There's more engagement. And per amount of time people spend on mobile, "we think we'll make a lot of money."
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Good way to answer that first direct question by Arrington. He'll follow up.by charles.cooper
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by James Martin -
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Arrington is bringing it back to IPO. Zuck says since the beginning, he's learned need a great team, need people who believe in the mission and want to make a ton of money.
"building a mission and building a business go hand in hand," he says.by Paul Sloan -
That sounds like a change from his early days. But that's to be expected, given now a public companyby Paul Sloan
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by James Martin -
Mark Z has always been poised in public but he's even more so today - in what is a veritable pressure cooker.by charles.cooper
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by James Martin -
Zuck on morale and employee retention with depressed stock. "it doesn't help," he says. But he points out that Facebook has had up and down past." Employees need to understand that. Says it's key to build something that employees are proud of.by Paul Sloan
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Translating the message to engineers: Come to Facebook and build product that will change the world. Even if the stock is wilting.by charles.cooper
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Zuck: It's as if he's recruiting new people. And Facebook is hiring aggressively. "I think it's a great time to join and it's a great time to double down." The crowd applauded.by Paul Sloan
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We are on to talk about products -- and mobile. Zuck is talking about how mobile apps are improving, and that's improving engagement. And he's back to monetization. "Mobile is a lot close to TV" than desktop computers.by Paul Sloan
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He must have prepared for Arrington's "whence mobile" question a million times already. He has to offer some details or the post-game bloviators are going to rap Facebook for being vague.by charles.cooper
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And he' s pointing out that early mobile ads are doing better than desktop ads. A copule of studies have shown, including this one I wrote about.by Paul Sloan
