Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on 'disappointing' stock

Social networking guru Mark Zuckerberg has bemoaned the falling stock rates of his company Facebook ...

15:15 12 September 2012

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has spoken out for the first time regarding his company's decline in market value. 

 

Zuckerberg was quick to admit that when his business' shares nearly halved since their $38 debut price in May the news was "disappointing" to him.

 

"There are tons of people that are super-pessimistic," Mr Zuckerberg said. "I would personally rather be underestimated. It gives us latitude to go out and make some big bets."

 

But the revelation is not seen as a stumbling block for the tech pioneer who cites that new technology around the corner will be the true test of his social network. 

 

Zuckerberg addressed the crowd in conference at the TechCrunch Disrupt summit in San Francisco. 

 

He said: "Over the next three to five years, the biggest question on everyone's mind is really going to be how well Facebook does with mobile."

 

"Literally, six months ago we didn't have an ad on mobile."

 

Now that advertisements are being embedded into mobile versions of the social networking site, an ongoing increase in market worth should be around the corner. 

 

Zuckerberg used the conference to state that his primary focus was now in mobiles, rather than on desktop computers. 

 

Instead of opting for traditional 'banner' ads down the side, Zuckerberg hopes for a more centralised and seamless advertising potential to take dominance, likening the move to 'TV style' ad breaks. 

 

Advertising is key to making money out of the free-to-use site which is the world's most popular social network with 950 million users.

 

Zuckerberg also stressed at the conference that he isn't moving into phsyical technology. When asked if he was building a Facebook phone, he replied: "If we make a phone we could get maybe 10 million users? Twelve million users? That doesn't move the needle for us.

 

"Building a phone is the wrong strategy for us."

 

He admitted the fall in Facebook's share price had made it harder to find and retain staff. "It doesn't help," he said.

 

Zuckerberg owns about 444 million Facebook shares as well as an option to issue another 60 million.