Has Facebook's Defining Hour Arrived?

There is a lot of discussion taking place currently over Facebook’s various exit options. Yesterday, Reuters quoted Mark Zuckerberg at a press event in Japan:

You can tell, from our history and what we’ve done, that we really wanted to keep the company independent, by focusing on building and focusing on the long-term

This was following John Furrier’s post which got the rumor mills running yesterday. Now the discussion surrounds Mark Zuckerberg making a great decision. While it was bold of him to turn down a $1 billion offer from Yahoo and later a $5 billion offer from Microsoft, one has to wonder if turning down a $10 – $20 billion offer from Microsoft would be absurd.

Kara Swisher seems to believe that this opportunity is Facebook’s golden ticket opportunity. Zuckerberg has a lot to consider but currently it appears as though he isn’t even considering it based on his statement to the press yesterday. Still in his early twenties, Mark Zuckerberg would have between $3 billion and $7 billion depending on the offer presented by Microsoft.

That would make him one of the richest people in the world and one of the youngest billionaires as well. So what would you do in Mark Zuckerberg’s shoes?

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.