Following Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s closing at an all-time high on Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg got vocal on a number of issues. He immediately felt that he could offer sound advice to Twitter as it finishes out the calender year as a public company and looks towards its IPO in 2014. He also shared some choice words about the government’s handling of the Edward Snowden affair and Prism program. The tech billionaire is also slated to speak to Republican leaders of Congress next Thursday regarding immigration reform.
Zuckerberg told Twitter not to be afraid of moving into the public sector
As I wrote yesterday, Zuckerberg essentially told Twitter not to be afraid of moving into the public sector as a stock that anyone can own. While acknowledging that he might be the last person whose advice should be heeded—given the myriad problems Facebook encountered when it went public—he also knows how it feels to try to stay a private company as long as possible.
The U.S. government could have done a much better job: Zuckerberg
To the NSA and the Snowden scandal, Zuckerberg made it quite clear that he believes that the U.S. government could have done a much better job with its handling before and after the story was broken.
“The morning after this started breaking, a bunch of people were asking them what they thought,” Zuckerberg said of NSA officials. “[They said], ‘Don’t worry, we’re not spying on any Americans.’ Wonderful. That’s really helpful for companies trying to work with people around the world. Thanks for going out there and being clear. I think that was really bad.”
Zuckerberg plans to meet with the Republican leadership
Next week Zuckerberg plans to meet with the Republican leadership of both houses to intensively speak about immigration reform, though it’s being widely reported that is not what the conversation will be limited to when they meet.
The meeting is scheduled for September 19 and will include House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, according to Bloomberg News.
Zuckerberg, along with a number of other tech companies, founded a PAC called Fwd.us earlier this year. While the group is in favor of immigration reform on many levels, their primary interest is money and the ability for foreign-born tech workers to remain in the country following their studies. Silicon Valley and other tech-dominated regions face a dearth of qualified applicants for positions they need to fill to further their aims.
