Facebook’s About Face – The Ugly, The Bad and The Good

About the Book

One of the two most anticipated Initial Public Offerings to hit Wall Street, Facebook was anything but a hit , just a plain disaster, pure and simple. The treasurer passes confidential information about the company’s projected revenue shortfall to 15 selected analysts who pass it on to institutional and other big investors. A staggering $1 billion was lost by investors and less than three months after the IPO, Facebook’s stock drops 50% and 13 executives depart. The company discloses confidential information to the public which results in co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s subpoena to Washington to supposedly tell all. But ALL is not lost. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donate 99% of their shares to charity which has seen so much good.

About the Author

Alan B. Jonas, M.A. Alan received his Degree while taking night classes at NYU’s School of Education.. He has been a stockbroker, investment advisor and financial planner for over 50 years. At Merrill Lynch, he was involved in many IPOs including that of Merrill Lynch and suggested the company take Peet’s Coffee public. After three years of arduous study, he earned the coveted CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ designation. Alan co-founded The Financial Store, the first financial services firm to be located in a shopping center. He started serious writing while in graduate school where, since his degree was in Dramatic Art, his Master’s thesis was about Constantin Stanislavski and his influence on American theatre. His professor was so impressed with his work that he sent it to the Soviet Union where it was disseminated among theatre schools. After graduation, Alan worked at WMGM Radio in New York mainly because of the recommendation of Judy Garland with whom he conducted an exclusive interview on the stage of Carnegie Hall the day before her historic performance. He was a reporter and a producer at the station and was assigned to cover the press conferences of Sir Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and other notables. When the station changed its call letters to WHN he wrote newscasts and developed the concept of the news “beeper” which was a way of interviewing people in the news over the phone. He was appointed the special assistant to the President of Writers Guild of America East who dispatched him to NBC News in New York to assist Pauline Frederick, NBC’s correspondent at the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis.It was there that he conducted exclusive TV interviews with U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson and Secretary- General U-Thant. After that assignment, he wrote news for WNBC Radio. In San Francisco, he was the Stock Market Reporter for KSFO Radio and the Financial Reporter for KPIX-TV. He lectured to thousands of adults at local adult schools, colleges, associations and service clubs on financial subjects, estate planning long-term care. Hewlett-Packard selected him as its exclusive lecturer at its Pre-Retirement seminars. He has been quoted in many newspapers and magazines and was featured in “Money Magazine’s” Investment Round Table. Alan also devoted his time to community service as President of the Oakland Kiwanis Club and at the Oakland Museum, now called the Oakland Museum of California where he was President of the Business Membership Committee. Prior to that, he was President of the Meals forMillions Foundation, Marin, CA Chapter.