Facebook uploaded its IPO roadshow video last night.
PrivCo's take on Facebook's roadshow video:
- As CFO David Ebersman states, Facebook’s road show video is different than most which present from a podium similar to the live road show format.
- Facebook’s road show video is produced like an infomercial with a series of different interviews, glossy photos, eye-catching video clips, and cheerful music playing throughout.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in his typical t-shirt and jeans discussing Facebook’s foundation and development with VP of Product Chris Cox, an early Facebook employee. Their discussion of the Facebook platform certainly tugs at the heartstrings: “Your life is an amazing story that a lot of people would be interested in if you told it.”
- The road show video highlights several key stats: Facebook’s 125 billion friendships, 300 million photos added per day, 2 billion likes per day, 1 billion comments per day, 900 million monthly users, 500 million daily users, 500 million mobile users, and Facebook’s status as the #1 downloaded mobile app.
- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg discusses Facebook’s advertising platform, which is highlighted by real testimonials from satisfied management at Ben and Jerry’s among other Facebook advertisers.
- CFO David Ebersman discusses Facebook’s financials in a very big picture way.
- Rather than walking through a 10-K, Ebersman broadly discusses revenue streams from advertising and payments (Facebook Credits), Facebook’s infrastructure investments during this “heavy investment phase” and those investments’ impact on margins.
- CEO Mark Zuckerberg concludes the Facebook road show video by highlighting a future where he believes every app will somehow become integrated into Facebook.
- Overall, the Facebook road show humanizes the social networking giant through testimonials of management and clients along with the series of precious moments caught on photo and film and shared through Facebook. However, it does not offer data to help make an informed investment decision.
PrivCo Conclusion on Facebook’s Road Show: The video is a nice humanizing piece to generate some goodwill toward Facebook, but it is lacking in financial details. Investors must fully read the prospectus to completely understand their investment in Facebook.
