[petercooper]

He was extremely clear that anything less than a multibillion dollar IPO was a pathetic failure, and he’d resign before he’d let such an abomination happen. So his startup is not actually for sale.

An IPO is essentially a partial sale. But, really, if someone came and offered him $30bn right now, would he sell? If so, it's for sale (and, yep, there are certainly people who would never sell certain things at any price so it's not just an academic exercise).

There's an old joke along these lines:

"If I gave you a million dollars, would you sleep with me?" .. "A million dollars is a lot of money, and you don’t look that bad, so I guess I would consider it." .. "Ok, since I don’t have a million dollars, would you sleep with me for $100?" .. "What kind of woman/guy do you think I am?!" .. "We’ve already established the answer to that question. Now we’re just negotiating the price."

[danshapiro]

An IPO simply means that the company's shares, either ones previously issued or new shares that are minted simultaneously with the IPO, can be purchased by the public. It just opens up investment to a wider pool of people.

Now one can argue that any kind of investment is a "sale" but that's another discussion.

[kristopolous]

Does anyone know where this one actually comes from?

[a-priori]

I'd heard it attributed to Winston Churchill. But, some Googling reveals other attributions to George Bernard Shaw, and nothing conclusive either way. So I'd say that it's uncertain who said it, or even that someone famous did.

[jarofgreen]

I'll add that I heard it was Oscar Wilde to the list. Who really knows?

[kruipen]

Churchill http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/300099

[jonathanwallace]

Wouldn't it be better to start the anchor price a little lower?

http://themarketingspot.com/2009/08/three-predictably-irrati...

[thinker]

That would defeat the point of the joke