Two weeks ago I blogged about the strange acquisition of Instagram by Facebook for $1 Billion. This week I find myself reading another interesting story about Facebook. Recently they purchased "a large stack" of patents from IBM, and this week they have purchases even more from Microsoft. This is not uncommon for tech companies to buy patents from other tech firms so that they can make use of the most up to date tech, but the weird part is that Facebook is being very secretive about how much they paid IBM for their patents. Normally Facebook has no problem releasing information like that (Case in point Instagram) which is what makes this so fishy. Why could Zuckerberg and his execs be hiding, and what could they gain by hiding it? These questions are new for Facebook, and are starting to bring a shroud of mystery over an otherwise very public company.
The other aspect of this goes back to what I was saying two weeks ago about Zuckerberg building his empire, and starting to throw his weight around. The more patents Zuckerberg buys the more control he gains over the tech market, specifically the networking portion. Facebook is growing rapidly, and the more technology he has the more power he has. that includes licensing and future sales of those patents, which are all new forms of revenue streams for the company. Which with the IPO just around the corner could be a huge seller. regardless, I still feel that Zuckerberg is building his forces and gaining dominance so that when the time comes he can make his big move and ascend tot he thrown as the first king of the internet.
And looking at his history in starting Facebook, will mean that no one is safe.
This is a overall great post and on a very interesting topic. I blogged about the same thing for this week because I just find it so interesting how eager Facebook is to expand. I am curious as to what these patents are for and why Facebook would even need all these patents. I just have one fear about how much and how quickly Facebook is able to expand without collapsing in on itself by trying to be a part of too much of a market. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of this yet, but it is very interesting why Facebook would feel the need to be so secretive about how much they spent, unless they are trying to hide something.
ReplyDeleteThat what I'm thinking too. And I find it hard to believe that if Facebook is hiding something, that it is something good that is going to enhance our web experience. I really think a monopoly is coming...
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