Women in upper management

Check out the Financial Times' Women at the Top series for a number of articles and multimedia news items about the topic of women in upper management. This is a topic that seems to be all over the news these days, with quotas being discussed for the number of women who should be in top management positions. Do you think this is an important issue? Should one quarter to one half of major companies' boards be made up of women? Tell us about your opinion on this subject in the comments below or by email! (tutor@virtualingua.de) If you are a student with us already, this counts as a tutored exercise, if not, test our tutoring for free!

Investment in Facebook

The social networking site is booming with so many users; some people have even stopped using e-mail and just use Facebook to communicate. Now some new investors have pumped even more money into the company. Have a look at the article below from the New York Times, and practice your written English by answering the questions following the article. Before reading, think about these questions:

1. Can you access social media sites like Facebook at work?
2. Do you use sites like Facebook?
3. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantes of sites like this for private individuals and companies?

January 2, 2011, 11:31 pm Venture Capital

Goldman Invests in Facebook at $50 Billion Valuation

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and EVELYN M. RUSLI

Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News

The deal could double the personal fortune of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder.

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion, according to people involved in the transaction. The deal makes Facebook now worth more than companies like eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner.

The stake by Goldman Sachs, considered one of Wall Street’s savviest investors, signals the increasing might of Facebook, which has already been bearing down on giants like Google. The new money will give Facebook more firepower to steal away valuable employees, develop new products and possibly pursue acquisitions — all without being a publicly traded company. The investment may also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out at least some of their stakes.

The new investment comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an inquiry into the increasingly hot private market for shares in Internet companies, including Facebook, Twitter, the gaming site Zynga and LinkedIn, an online professional networking site. Some experts suggest the inquiry is focused on whether certain companies are improperly using the private market to get around public disclosure requirements.

The new money could add pressure on Facebook to go public even as its executives have resisted. The popularity of shares of Microsoft and Google in the private market ultimately pressured them to pursue initial public offerings.

So far, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has brushed aside the possibility of an initial public offering or a sale of the company. At an industry conference in November, he said on the topic, “Don’t hold your breath.” However, people involved in the fund-raising effort suggest that Facebook’s board has indicated an intention to consider a public offering in 2012.

There has been an explosion in user interest in social media sites. The social buying site Groupon, which recently rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google, is in the process of raising as much as $950 million from major institutional investors, at a valuation near $5 billion, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

“When you think back to the early days of Google, they were kind of ignored by Wall Street investors, until it was time to go public,” said Chris Sacca, an angel investor in Silicon Valley who is a former Google employee and an investor in Twitter. “This time, the Street is smartening up. They realize there are true growth businesses out here. Facebook has become a real business, and investors are coming out here and saying, ‘We want a piece of it.’”

The Facebook investment deal is likely to stir up a debate about what the company would be worth in the public market. Though it does not disclose its financial performance, analysts estimate the company is profitable and could bring in as much as $2 billion in revenue annually.

Under the terms of the deal, Goldman has invested $450 million, and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm that has already sunk about half a billion dollars into Facebook, invested $50 million, people involved in the talks said.

Goldman has the right to sell part of its stake, up to $75 million, to the Russian firm, these people said. For Digital Sky Technologies, the deal means its original investment in Facebook, at a valuation of $10 billion, has gone up fivefold.

Representatives for Facebook, Goldman and Digital Sky Technologies all declined to comment.

Goldman’s involvement means it may be in a strong position to take Facebook public when it decides to do so in what is likely to be a lucrative and prominent deal.

As part of the deal, Goldman is expected to raise as much as $1.5 billion from investors for Facebook at the $50 billion valuation, people involved in the discussions said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the transaction was not supposed to be made public until the fund-raising had been completed.

In a rare move, Goldman is planning to create a “special purpose vehicle” to allow its high-net worth clients to invest in Facebook, these people said. While the S.E.C. requires companies with more than 499 investors to disclose their financial results to the public, Goldman’s proposed special purpose vehicle may be able get around such a rule because it would be managed by Goldman and considered just one investor, even though it could conceivably be pooling investments from thousands of clients.

It is unclear whether the S.E.C. will look favorably upon the arrangement.

Already, a thriving secondary market exists for shares of Facebook and other private Internet companies. In November, $40 million worth of Facebook shares changed hands in an auction on a private exchange called SecondMarket. According to SharesPost, Facebook’s value has roughly tripled over the last year, to $42.4 billion. Some investors appear to have bought Facebook shares at a price that implies a valuation of $56 billion. But the credibility of one of Wall Street’s largest names, Goldman, may help justify the company’s worth.

Facebook also surpassed Google as the most visited Web site in 2010, according to the Internet tracking firm Experian Hitwise.

Facebook received 8.9 percent of all Web visits in the United States between January and November 2010. Google’s main site was second with 7.2 percent, followed by Yahoo Mail service, Yahoo’s Web portal and YouTube, part of Google.

For Mr. Zuckerberg, the deal may double his personal fortune, which Forbes estimated at $6.9 billion when Facebook was valued at $23 billion. That would put him in a league with the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who are reportedly worth $15 billion apiece.

Even as Goldman takes a stake in Facebook, its employees may struggle to view what they invested in. Like those at most major Wall Street firms, Goldman’s computers automatically block access to social networking sites, including Facebook.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/goldman-invests-in-facebook-at-50-billion-valuation/?ref=todayspaper

1. What is Facebook's value, and how does it compare to other sites like eBay and Google?
2. Which companies have invested in Facebook and for how much?
3. What is Facebook's founder's personal fortune?
4. Do you use social sites like Facebook, and what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages for individuals and companies of sites like this?

Answer the questions 1-4 above and email your answers to tutor@virtualingua.de
(If you're a current student you can do this as a tutored exercise, if you're not a student with us, try the exercise and test our tutoring for free!)

Detroit jumps on the electric auto bandwagon!

Perhaps spurred by the economic crisis and plummeting new car sales, GM has developed an electric car that started shipping yesterday. Read this article from the Detroit Free Press, answer the questions after the article and email your answers to tutor@virtualingua.de
(If you're a current student you can do this as a tutored exercise, if you're not a student with us, try the exercise and test our tutoring!)

Chevy Volt headed to dealers

By Chrissie Thompson
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

• 
  

Five trucks carrying Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric cars left General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck plant this evening, marking the first shipment to dealers after nearly four years of expectation.

GM said it expected a total of 160 Volts to ship this week to its initial launch markets: California, Austin, Texas, and metro New York City and Washington, D.C.

Engineers approved the start of shipping at a half-hour meeting that ended at noon Monday, said Doug Parks, chief engineer for the car. Production started in early November, as reported by the Free Press. The plant has so far built more than 300 models for customers, Parks said.

GM had said customers might receive Volts as soon as late November or early December. The first Nissan Leaf, a pure electric car and a rival to the Volt, was delivered to a customer this weekend — kicking off the sale of electric cars for the mass market.

Since the Volt is GM’s first extended-range electric vehicle, Parks said, engineers decided to do a little more quality testing before approving the cars for shipping. That included sending some cars to Alaska a couple of weeks ago to test how they started and drove in frigid temperatures, when batteries are under extreme stress to power the wheels and heat the car, he said.

“Could we have shipped it a few weeks ago? Probably,” Parks said. “We really didn’t uncover any big quality issues.”

The vehicles should arrive at dealerships this week, he said.

GM first announced the Volt concept at the 2007 Detroit auto show.

Contact Chrissie Thompson: 313-222-8784 or cthompson@freepress.com

Read more: Chevy Volt headed to dealers | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20101213/BUSINESS01/101213046/Chevy-Volt-headed-to-dealers#ixzz183x10DwE

Questions:

1. What are the initial markets that the Volt is being launched on?
2. When did production start, and how long have consumers been expecting this car?
3. How many Volts have been built up to now?
4. Why was the Volt tested in Alaska?
5. Would you like to drive an electric car? Why or why not?