[diego]

If you and Marissa Mayer want the last burger in the world, how much is it worth? What if you're Mark Zuckerberg, and it's really important to her that you don't get a taste of that burger? Maybe she doesn't even like burgers.

Factors like the cost of the burger, or how fresh/tasty it is, become less important.

Also, all-cash doesn't mean what you think it means. The currency used to pay for a company (cash, stock, pork bellies, whatever) is independent of the vesting schedules of the employees/founders acquired. Typically investors receive most stock/cash immediately, while employees receive some up front and the rest over a period of time that is negotiable. 3-4 years is standard. Some deals are front-loaded (more than 50% in the first half) and others are back-loaded (the reverse).

[pkmehta]

The point about vesting is one I hadn't considered. Thanks.

Re: the burger analogy, that also makes sense in the context of there being competition for this deal. But aside from a puff piece in TC which looks placed by sources (aka Tumblr banker Frank Quattrone), there didn't look like much competition in this case.

But nevertheless, thanks for the informative answer.

[alan_cx]

Well, if you are British, you'd want to check that burger doesn't contain horse meat.

And as amusing as that might or might not be, there is also a point there.

[icebraining]

There's nothing wrong with horse meat.

[robotmay]

There are far fewer controls and standards for horse meat in much of the EU, meaning a lot of the meat which was being passed off as beef could potentially contain dangerous drugs not fit for human consumption.

If it's properly regulated though, you're right that there's no problem with it.

[radiowave]

Potentially, there's a problem with any meat if you can't have confidence in where it came from. (British buyers didn't know they were buying food containing horse meat. They were being duped.)

[ceejayoz]

If the beef isn't beef, you can't really count on any of the other food integrity items - like freshness - to be accurate either.

Horse meat's fine, I've had it... but it's unacceptable and potentially dangerous to have it sold as beef.

[alan_cx]

Who said there was?

[camus]

unless it is sold as beef , then it is a scam since horse meat is quite cheap ,beef is not.