Ask HN: Is Zuckerberg just a „one-hit-wonder"?
9 points
14 hours ago
| 6 comments
| HN
What’s your view? The original idea for Facebook was stolen, then he bought Instagram and Whatsup to stay afloat. Metaverse is/was an absolute disaster. And I’m not even talking about all the scandals from Cambridge Analytica era.

How bad CEO, in your opinion, is Mark?

muzani
1 hour ago
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Most tech giants are one hit wonders. Microsoft is the exception, not the norm.

The playbook now is get product-market fit -> own 99% market share -> build, buy, exterminate everything that could threaten this market share -> when the disruption comes, pivot to it.

Zuck inspired the playbook. He's done it to perfection. He's been in the ring for 20 years. Yahoo dominated for about 5-7 years. By no means is he a bad CEO.

Facebook's decline was always a part of his strategy, and whatever the employees say about there being a bazillion active daily users doesn't reflect that their time is near. But Instagram still runs strong and Threads has half a billion active users.

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ekrapivin
3 hours ago
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I truly believe people underestimate sheer luck and a good grasp of an said opportunity.

Mark is a mediocre innovator and a weak and ruthless leader. He has had the chance to claim ownership of Harvard Connection before Fb and purchase trendy platforms being a billionaire.

I sense more luck, opportunity, a huge team of advisors, and less skill, talent or chrisma.

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ggm
14 hours ago
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I find the amorality of the billionaire class strange. He could be as good as somebody running a public enterprise, a research lab, a hospital. A state energy utility.

Instead he's running a giant meme tank feeding racist shit to win clicks and running fake AI ads boosting scam investments.

He's good at that. But is he actually any good at building things which enrich society without making him money?

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tacostakohashi
6 hours ago
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From his perspective, though, he's just responding to how society chooses to allocate capital. It's not his fault that society apparently values crappy websites more than hospitals, and if he didn't do it, someone else would have.
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rl1987
6 hours ago
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He does run some strange "capitalist philanthropy" thing with his wife: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Zuckerberg_Initiative
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Dumblydorr
5 hours ago
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He’s a sociopath. Why ignore that obvious fact? He buys a Hawaiian island and builds a secret bunker there for when the wasted mouths are eradicated. These robber billionaires aren’t normal people.
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bdangubic
6 hours ago
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> He's good at that. But is he actually any good at building things which enrich society without making him money?

Name one human for whom this answer would be true - just one please? (not defending Zuck, he is probably one of the most evil people in the history of the entire civilization)

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ggm
5 hours ago
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I don't know the name of my local hospital administrator, and nor do you I suspect. And, thats kind of the point.
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bdangubic
3 hours ago
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your local hospital administrator is building what exactly? she/he works for free? if you are in America you picked another evil empire, US health system - try and pick something else………
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ra0x3
3 hours ago
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Yes
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chistev
6 hours ago
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If it was that easy, other people should do it.
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Dumblydorr
5 hours ago
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They did, he stole the ideas or bought them. What did he actually do himself?
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rvz
14 hours ago
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Not many people understand this but he is a billionaire.

Meta is profitable and he can afford to lose bets and can pay off the fines if it means that Meta gets an extra $10B for the next quarter.

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