ConnectU founders and Olympic rowers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss — the guys who are still in a legal wrestling match with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after suing him for stealing their idea, settling, and then rethinking the settlement — took their shirts off for rowing practice in Beijing. We thought some of you might want to know.
ConnectU cofounders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, even as they're trying to wrestle a chunk of Facebook from former Harvard school chum Mark Zuckerberg, are training for the double-shell rowing event at the Olympics. Maureen O'Connor, an editor at Julia Allison's entertainment startup, NonSociety, hoped the privileged pair would send the site updates from Beijing. So O'Connor emailed Guest of a Guest editor Rachelle Hruska — who apparently knows the fair-haired Harvard-grad twins — to ask for an introduction. One small problem.Hruska noted that O'Connor's other blog, Ivygate, had called the twins "spoiled bitches that tried to lay one on the invincible Mark Zuckerberg and failed." We don't see the problem with hiring "spoiled bitches" to work at NonSociety — they'll fit right in with Allison! Had Hruska really been cutting, she'd have asked how Julia Allison's latest BFF, Randi Zuckerberg — older sister of the man the Winklevosses accused of stealing ConnectU's code for Facebook — would feel about the hire.
The not-so-subtle thesis of a Boston Globe profile of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins who claim Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea from Facebook from them: They're not just dumb jocks. The Twinklevosses, as they're known in Silicon Valley, lost in their legal effort, but are hoping to win at the Beijing Olympics, where they are competing in rowing. They and fellow cofounder Divya Narendra settled with Facebook, agreeing to sell ConnectU for shares in the company — but are now trying to overturn that agreement, saying Facebook isn't worth as much as they thought. That argues strongly against the piece's attempt to bust stereotypes.One would think they would have gotten a proper valuation on the shares before agreeing to take them as payment. That in itself suggests that the twins, who majored in economics at Harvard, weren't paying attention in class. And if they have some other evidence of brains, it wasn't on display for the Globe. Their coash, Ted Nash, tries to argue that they're just strong, silent types: "Inside, everything's working all the time with them. What you see isn't what you get." What you see, according to the Globe:
Released court transcripts from the last skirmish in the ConnectU-Facebook legal battle — in which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was charged with nicking the code for his site from a rival social network — reveal why ConnectU founders Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler WInklevoss returned to the fight this summer after settling with Facebook in February. It seems they thought their original lawyers didn't make as much from the deal as the ConnectU founders thought they would. In the February settlement, ConnectU sold itself for Facebook shares which the founders figured would have a value similar to those bought by Microsoft, which paid $240 million for 1.6 percent of Facebook, valuing the company at a notional $15 billion. The transcripts show that while Microsoft bought preferred stock in the company, ConnectU's founders were awarded common shares. That kind isn't worth nearly as much. In fact, given the problems Facebook shareholders have had selling their private shares, the settlement might not be enough to pay ConnectU's legal bills. The founders' first team of lawyers have asked the Judge not to award ConnectU its settlement funds until its legal bills are paid first.
The legal case opened by ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is closed, but the courtroom drama continues. CNET has filed an objection to San Jose District Court Judge James Ware's decision to close the courtroom and put all the evidence under seal. What's in those documents that might be so interesting? Facebook's internal valuations, for starters. But most intriguing are the purported instant message conversations that the plaintiffs were led to believe provided proof that Zuckerberg is a little thief. (Photo by AP)
When Facbook and the ConnectU founders who say Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their code settled in February, ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra figured they were getting stock in a company worth $15 billion. Not so, according to Facebook laywers and the federal judge who ruled in their favor. From the Judge's ruling:
Harvard classmates and ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra signed a settlement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in February, and despite what the ConnectU founders say is relevant new evidence, a federal judge ruled yesterday that the settlement will stick. "The court finds that the agreement is enforceable and orders its enforcement," the order said. We prefer how the last judge ruling on the case put it, describing the ConnectU founders suddenly renewed interest in revisiting the settlement with new lawyers as little more than "buyer's remorse."
ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra have hired new lawyers to argue their suddenly renewed case that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for his site. The parties agreed to a settlement in February, but last week ConnectU cited new evidence and asked a judge to let it out of the deal. Now, the New York Times reports one of ConnectU's new lawyers is stock fraud expert Sean F. O’Shea of O’Shea Partners in New York. Speculates the Times's Brad Stone:
Mark Hornick, the lawyer representing ConnectU's Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, on the "smoking gun" chat transcripts that data forensics expert Jeff Parmet may or may not have discovered on hard drives subpoenaed from Facebook implicating Mark Zuckerberg in grand theft source code: "We don't have them. The courts have them, Facebook has them, but ConnectU doesn't have them." [Silicon Alley Insider]
A judge last summer called the ConnectU founders' claims that Mark Zuckerberg had used code written while employed by them to create Facebook "tissue thin." Yesterday, in the final ruling before Facebook's lawyers decided to settle, a higher court disagreed and rejected Facebook's call for a dismissal. According to the appeals court ruling, Facebook's defense arguments were "either unavailing, or inadequately developed, or both. We reject them out of hand and, for the reasons elucidated above, we reverse the order of dismissal." Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, unwilling to go on with the case, chose to settle.
Facebook is preparing to settle with ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra. The three allegedthat in 2003, Facebook founder and then-fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg turned code he wrote for ConnectU into Facebook. All motions in the case have been terminated, the New York Times reports — a usual prelude to a settlement. In July 2007, a judge characterized the ConnectU founder's case as tissue-thin, remarking that dormroom chatter does not equate to a contract. Still, the case didn't seem to be going away. Already, inadvertently released court filings proved embarrassing to Zuckerberg, and a trial would likely have revealed worse. What the Times didn't get: the terms of the settlement.
02138, an independent magazine for Harvard alumni, has done an in-depth profile of Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg and the on-campus origins of Facebook. There's plenty on the lawsuit filed by the Winklevoss twins and ConnectU, the Facebook rival for which Zuckerberg did some programming work. But the magazine digs deeper and gets some tantalizing details. Did you know that Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin and Zuckerberg sparred over money, and Saverin is suing Zuckerberg for squeezing him out of the company? Or that fellow Harvard alums Sanjay Mavinkurve, Joe Jackson, and Victor Gao also did programming for ConnectU — and thereby might have a claim to the title of wannabe Facebook founders? Aaron Greenspan, whose HouseSystem social network may have inspired Zuckerberg, also makes an appearance. Zuckerberg didn't speak to the magazine for the story, but his response to Harvard's Administrative Board still rings true today.
Poor Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The athletic and very identical twins are suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over claims that he stole their idea for a college social network. Now, too, though, they're suffering much the same security woes as their better-known rival, and, if that's possible, not as gracefully. Just as Facebook had its source code leaked, someone has discovered that ConnectU, the comely twins' site, has major security flaws of its own. Flaws so obvious, says the engineer who discovered the flaw, that they beggar the imagination.
FROM THE DESK OF MEGAN MCCARTHY — A note to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the inhumanly hunky main plaintiffs in the ConnectU-Facebook lawsuit. Yes, we are aware that you are identical twins. Smolderingly hot identical twins. Yes, we are aware that, in your quest to be Olympic rowers — lean, athletic, sweaty Olympic rowers, we might add — you are used to wearing team uniforms, cut and colored to make you look like clones. This does not excuse the fact that you wore the exact same navy-blue pinstripe suits to your court hearing yesterday. And the same belts. And the same shoes. Good lord, have you no taste?
I listened in live to a conference call with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, two of the plaintiffs in ConnectU's lawsuit against Facebook. "You may wonder why ConnectU is holding its first press conference now," says Tyler Winklevoss in a set of prepared remarks. "This dispute with Thefacebook is over three years old." Winklevoss cites his and brother Cameron's schedules as "Olympic hopefuls" training for the 2008 Beijing games. He says that ConnectU is not trying to shut down Facebook. (Oddly, he keeps calling it "Thefacebook," even though Mark Zuckerberg's company hasn't used that name in almost two years.) Cameron Winklevoss then joins in, largely reciting the facts stated in his lawsuit, but also emphasizing that he challenged Mark Zuckerberg shortly after he launched Facebook, not, as some press reports had it, only recently as Facebook became successful.
"Mo money, mo problems," says a Facebook insider. The wisdom of the late Biggie Smalls explains, in a nutshell, why Facebook has found itself in court. A judge in Boston is considering at a hearing today whether to let a lawsuit filed by the founders of ConnectU — the Dickensian-named twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra — against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his company proceed. This lawsuit, of course, only exists because of Facebook's supposed success, and the inflated valuations bandied about by board members tired of fending off buyout offers. I'll be covering this story throughout the day, but if you need to catch up, here's the full coverage.
Earlier this week, CNBC asked me to come on the air to discuss Facebook's legal woes. Click to viewI've spent days immersed in legal filings, and the clip, above, just scratches the surface of what I've learned. Next week comes a critical moment for Facebook, the red-hot social network that has captured Silicon Valley's imagination, and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. After the jump, I explain why Zuckerberg will face a moment of reckoning next Wednesday, July 25, and detail a timeline of Facebook's legal battles.
Portfolio.com has interviewed Tyler Winklevoss, one of the Harvard graduates who has charged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with stealing the idea behind the hot social network. Winklevoss, who founded HarvardConnection, a college-networking site now known as ConnectU, appears to be a very angry, bitter young man. We love those types! Here's what Winklevoss had to say to Portfolio about Zuckerberg's actions: "Premeditated, well thought out, duplicitous and conniving." Winklevoss adds, "He messed with the wrong guys." Of course, Winklevoss is more than a bit duplicitous himself in the interview.
As Facebook's theoretical value soars, the interest of its hangers-ons grows practical indeed. I think that's why Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra are pursuing their lawsuit against sandal-sporting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with such tireless vigor. But the three Harvard school chums, who say they hired Zuckerberg to work on their competing ConnectU site before he launched what became Facebook, are far from the only ones pressing a claim to have been present at Facebook's creation. (For the record, long-suffering Facebook PR chief Brandee Barker says the company's official cofounders are Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskowitz.) After the jump, a gallery of everyone who's not an official founder — but who'd like to be.
