Valuing Facebook: Zuckerberg’s rocket, ready for lift-off | The Economist

Final paragraph of a timely Facebook IPO reality check

“Investors who buy shares in the IPO will also have to accept that Mr Zuckerberg will continue to control more than 50% of the voting rights. “One person owning so much of a potential blue-chip company is more or less unheard of,” says Debarshi Nandy, a professor at Brandeis International Business School. Other tech firms, such as Google, have flourished under the tight control of small groups of founders, and Mr Zuckerberg shows every sign of maturing into an exceptional technology leader. But if something were to go badly wrong at Facebook in future, its shareholders will be able to do little more than give him a big thumbs down.”

Valuing Facebook: Zuckerberg’s rocket, ready for lift-off | The Economist