At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg asserted Facebook's commitment to a comprehensive mobile strategy for the company's future, resulting in a 6 percent stock bump in stock on Wednesday. CNET reports a $1 gain since yesterday alone, placing stock value at around $20.50.
So how did Zuckerberg pull it off? The entrepreneur initially acknowledged the failings of Facebook's IPO, noting: "the performance of the stock has obviously been disappointing." He then turned his company's vision moving forward.
"We're going to execute this mission of making the world more open and connected, and we're going to do the things that we think are going to build value over the long term. The next three to five years is really going to be how well we do with mobile."
Zuckerberg even touched on the potential for further developing Facebook internal search engine.
"We do a billion queries a day and we aren't even trying. Mostly, they are trying to find people or brand pages or apps. There is a big opportunity in search, evolving to giving a set of answers to a specific question, and Facebook is uniquely in a position to do that."
Zuckerberg wasn't just speaking to the audience, he was reassuring Wall Street that Facebook is a good bet, just now venturing into the mobile space full force. By pointing out a goldmine of opportunity that investors may have previously been unaware of, he asserted that "it's a great time for people to join [the company] and to stay and double down."
However, analysts remain skeptical. Jeffereis Group Inc.'s Brian Pitz states, "We think commercially-oriented searches are inherently valuable. But we won't get too excited until we hear more details."
BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield argues that "Facebook is not a media consumption service," and "if Facebook advertising becomes like television, people may change the channel."
Mark Zuckerberg Interview Excerpt
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