NEW YORK — Don’t let the hoodie and sneakers fool you. Mark Zuckerberg is no wet-behind-the-ears CEO.
Facebook’s chief executive turns 28 today, setting in motion the social network’s biggest week ever. The company is expected to start selling stock to the public for the first time and begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday. The IPO could value Facebook at nearly $100 billion, making it worth more than such iconic companies as Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.
At 28, Zuckerberg is half the age of the average S&P 500 CEO, according to executive- search firm Spencer Stuart. With eight years on the job, he has logged more time as leader than the average CEO, whose tenure is a little more than seven years, Stuart said.
Even so, the pressures of running a public company will take some adjustment. Once Facebook begins selling stock, Zuckerberg will be expected to please a host of new stakeholders, including Wall Street investment firms, hedge funds and pension funds that will pressure him to keep the company growing.
Young as he might seem — especially in that hooded sweat shirt— Zuckerberg will be about the same age as Michael Dell and older than Steve Jobs when those two took their companies, Dell Inc. and Apple Inc., public.
People who have observed Zuckerberg closely say his age is an asset. His is the generation that grew up with social networking, with computers all around them and the Internet as something that has always existed.
“I don’t think you could build a company like this if you were an old guy like me,” said David Kirkpatrick, a 59-year-old author who chronicled the company’s early history in “The Facebook Effect.”
Kirkpatrick, who is also founder of Techonomy, a media company that hosts conferences on the relationship among technology, economy and social progress, first met Zuckerberg six years ago. He says he was impressed with his vision, even then.
“It’s the willingness to take risks, the willingness to abide by a very contemporary vision,” Kirkpatrick said. “… I don’t think that he’s too young. I think most CEOs are too old.”
As part of Facebook’s pre-IPO “roadshow” last week, Zuckerberg visited several venerable East Coast financial institutions wearing his signature hoodie. While Silicon Valley insiders defend his fashion choice, others saw it as a sign of immaturity.
Was it, as some speculated, a sign of a rebellious 20-something acting out?
For Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities, Zuckerberg’s attitude and attire symbolize “a level of aloofness to stakeholders.”
