Facebook & ConnectU Settle Lawsuit
Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 7th, 2008 10:13 AMSoon after writing my article this morning about ConnectU this morning, I saw the New York Times article suggesting that Facebook may be ready to settle the lawsuit and put it behind them. There are no details as to the settlement amount but I would guess after years of legal battles and high priced attorney fees, the Winklevoss brothers can expect a million dollar payout.
After seeing issues reignite late last week, I began to wonder if all of this would result in a quick settlement. With hundreds of millions of dollars in cash in their bank account, Facebook can easily write a check and be gone with the legal battles. It appears that this is what will take place. Will the Winklevoss brothers get some of the highly valued Facebook stock? I don’t think we’ll ever know but I can guarantee you that the twin brothers will walk away with smiles on their faces.
The New York Times article states, “Facebook clearly needed to make the suit go away before a widely expected initial public offering that could come as early as next year.” This definitely makes a lot of sense although I’m not quite sure why Facebook would go public anytime soon while they haven’t yet begun to generate substantial revenue. Regardless, it’s good to see the ConnectU case settled but it is definitely a strike against the somewhat flawless record of Zuckerberg.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Facebook should have fought the suit. The Winklevoss brothers spent zero time or effort putting anything together until after Facebook launched. Cafeteria agreements are not contracts.
In any instance, they were too busy rowing for Harvard’s legendary coach Harry Parker to think about a website.
They simply wanted to cash in.
As I’ve written before, as the sons of noted Wharton grad and Professor Howard Winklevoss, they should have known better than to trust a handshake agreement
Besides, I doubt they care. They’re using their dad’s money to pay the lawyers. This weekend they competed at the USRowing National Selection Regatta. Tyler’s boat came in 6th, almost 25 seconds off the winners, and far off the pace required for Olympic success. Cameron’s boat did not even compete in his placement final.
Whiners, crybabies, and at least one quitter.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I am sad to see one of the most respected families of the old school disrespected here. The Winklevoss family are a fabulous group of contributing scholars and businessmen and also sportsmen. They row, they are involved in many charities, just look at all the women in the clan, you cant say that about most other people. They know how the system works, and they hand knowledge down that knowledge from generastion to generation. Just because your family doesn’t do that, doesn’t mean its ok to critiseze it.