Silicon Valley cash by selling private actions

By Brad Stone

Vince Thompson does not appear in the Facebook accounts early. Few more 2 000 employees of the company even know his name. Brief passage of the veteran AOL (AOL) as first official ad-sales leader Facebook lasted less than six months. Despite this, when Thompson left the company in early 2006, it has exercised its options to buy shares of Facebook, as is the custom in Silicon Valley and has taken a significant share of the shares with him. About 18 months later, he moved to Los Angeles and began to consult for clients of media, such as the TVGuide.com on how to exploit new sources of income, and he began to think about how to create one for himself. He embarks on a quest, talk to friends in New York investment banking world, an unorthodox idea: sell part of its shares in Facebook, packaged with a colleague who had left Facebook, shortly after he did. (Thompson declined to comment for this story).

The idea seems very little practice because Facebook was not - and still is not - a public company. Who could buy shares? How could any outsider value a small business, with virtually no income?

A banker introduced Thompson in a New York firm called Restricted Stock partners, who, in mid-2007, had a small office park in the farm with two Windows that appeared on a brick wall. The firm specialized in facilitating trades in illiquid securities, such as the assets of bankrupt companies and preferred shares in public companies whose owners have special rights. Mobile Facebook stock would be any other type of transaction, but the tiny firm was looking for a chance to break into the market for private company stock.

Experience resulting stretching for several months, mainly because potential buyers could not deal with Thompson on a price. Finally, using Microsoft (MSFT) investment of 240 million in Facebook in October 2007 in a tag, a hedge fund purchased the shares at a price that assessed the social network accruing $ 7.5 billion. Net trade in Thompson and his partner million.

This sale - among the first of its kind - sends shock waves around the insular world of employees of Facebook and investors. Facebook shareholders could become rich regardless of the plans of the company for an initial public offering. Soon other former Facebookers were buzzing on the opportunity and investors and other companies in pre - IPO employees began to think about the receipt of their assets as well.

Partners of restricted Stock that, in the following year, executed several similar Thompson trades and a few other former employees of private, conducted business that he had found the opening that he sought. "The speed with which we have acquired private-company inventory after the initial trade was shocking," says Mr. Adam Oliveri, Director General of the Cabinet. It was"a smack in the face that there's something in this market, and we started turning our attention to it." In 2008, the company changed its name to SecondMarket.

Trade Facebook of Thompson and the other alleged secondary market operations which followed, the dynamics of creation of wealth in Silicon Valley have fundamentally changed. Transform the private company stock in cash, generating potentially massive wealth - even if you have worked briefly at a startup which is currently little money - is a click on sites like SecondMarket and its rival on the West Coast SharesPost, as well as via a network organized buyers and sellers that sprouted up to almost from one day to the next day.

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Fischer: Actions 'unforgivable'

Tuna fish market before show end of auction at the fish market in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture on Monday, April 4.New: Traders on the world's largest fish market estimate one 80% drop in SalesMembers Japan Fisheries Association met on Wednesday with Tokyo Electric OfficialsThe group cited "Anger" among fishermen for what it called "irresponsible behaviour", a Japanese official says Fischer get money for suffer due to the nuclear crisis

Tokyo (CNN) --japanische Fischer have the offensive in their fight with the owner of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, upset calling the utility actions abusive, incompetent and taken four weeks to "unforgivable" in the course of the nuclear crisis.

The national fisheries of corporate joint association, a trade group for Japan's fishing industry, one statement damning Wednesday just hours after its members officials from the Tokyo electric power company, which operates the crippled.

Calls in this group, the utility and the Japanese Government "compensate for all parties, (who) had suffered directly or indirectly" as one of the situation.

"Tokyo Electric not the location of the damage at the plant and was (contaminated) water." That led to this serious situation, ", said the group in the statement.

Tokyo Electric and the Government (share) responsibility for this situation. Unforgivable, ", results in the message.""All strong anger maintaining those, the life and life at sea (the utility and the Government) irresponsible behavior feel."

Members of the fishing group said that they particularly upset about the decision Monday to dump of tons of radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean are made and have been adopted. This happened just hours after the Group explicitly requested it not geschehen-- leave its members feeling ignored.

Yoshiaki Saito, who has sold fish at Tokyo's Tsukiji market for 40 years, told CNN he is as angry at Tokyo Electric. "If we poison in the River, we would be arrested," he said. "But TEPCO will not be treated." "It is unfair."

In addition, he is the "stupid Government." angry at what he called

Fisheries Association representatives blasted Wednesday also Tokyo Electric claim that nuclear power plants were safe and that such accidents would never happen.

An official of the company said Tokyo Electric excuses officials offered and vowed to improve the situation. This was shortly after she crashed early Wednesday, a leak outside of the reactor confirms No. 2, by the water, the radiation levels had millions of times the legal limit, was no longer in the sea.

The fishing industry called for an end of all leaks of contaminated water into the sea ", to prevent the death of the fishing industry."

"We demand that Tokyo Electric and the Government for all of this outrageous decision (, dump radioactive water in the sea) provoked problems respond and flush out heavily contaminated water" now in the ocean, the Association said in its statement.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano on Wednesday apologized for informed as the Government had, why it was necessary to dump of radioactive water from the plant.

He explained that the levels of emissions, which decided in and around the No. 2 reactor, one of six in the nuclear plant, and these authorities, remove the less radioactive liquid waste water to make room in a treatment facility it 1 / 200, 000ths contain.

"As a measure to prevent more serious marine contamination was it," the Japanese official said. "But we needed, explain better, (influenced by) the people to the argument."

What also the radiation, Timothy J?rgensen, Chairman of the Committee on radiation security at Georgetown University Medical Center, said that this dumped water quickly it diluted should whereas is equivalent to dumping five swimming pools in the value of water in a Pacific Ocean, which has about "300 trillion pools full of water."

However, Japanese authorities have taken the higher-than normal levels of emissions in some young eels note. And in addition to their effects on aquatic organisms directly, some fear that the mere possibility of radiation on seafood consumers in the domestic and abroad can prevent food products produced in waters off Japan.

Relying on such "rumors", Edano Tuesday said that authorities will strengthen the monitoring of radiation on sea food, partly in a bid for the public to assure, that everything that gets on the market is safe.

Standards are the new Japanese Government according to the Edano enforcement of city and town health inspectors, doesn't that prefectures instructed. As with milk and vegetables, can certain fish removed from the restricted list when taking radiation below the statutory limits for three weeks in a row.

With regard to the fishermen themselves, the official Wednesday said Cabinet that in addition to a larger compensation payments to be decided, the Government is considering a pre-emptive payout.

Traders on the world's largest fish market, Tsukiji market in Tokyo, said CNN they have seen 80% decline in sales.

Similar payments will be likely to farmers, explicitly by the nuclear crisis much longer than that involved in the fishing industry.

Japan first imposed restrictions on the sale and distribution of milk and certain vegetables such as spinach, on the 20th March-more than two weeks before Edano Tuesday that radiation would announced levels are regulated in seafood.

Radiation from Japan launches a scientist, whose Institute research track next month, said it is likely that such values in fish for six months-increase, such as the pollution in the supply of Lebensmitteln--go then gradually down in two or more years is.

Still, think in view of the standards is set now, he should feel comfortable eating seafood from Japan people.

"The current provisions are quite reasonable," said Jin Misonou, research associate for the Tokyo-based marine ecology Research Institute. "So, of course, food please fish." "It is good to revive the fishing industry."CNN's Kyung LAH and journalists Hiroo SASO and gene Shimada contributed to this report.

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