Fast losing users, and losing investor confidence -- FACEBOOK now seen as a sh*thole domain
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Facebook's leadership is facing a crisis following the company's latest controveries.The past year has given ammunition to the growing number of critics worried about Facebook's size, business model and implications for democracy. But a recent report characterizing Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandburg as slow or reluctant to respond to recent challenges is also raising questions about the judgment of the people running the network connected to more than 2 billion people.Zuckerberg, who through his dual role as CEO and chairman wields most of the power over the company, is now facing calls to relinquish some of his control in order to bring in some fresh oversight.Natasha Lamb, a managing director at Arjuna Capital and a Facebook investor, attributes a lot of Facebook's current problems to the amount of control over the company that Zuckerberg has consolidated."The dominant position that Zuckerberg holds has not been helpful in steering the company over the last few years," Lamb said. "The stock's gone down over $100 billion twice this year, and you can directly link that to these platform issues."Zuckerberg currently owns 60 percent of the company and serves as chairman of the board of directors in addition to his role as CEO - an arrangement that Facebook's critics think allows for little dissent within the company or oversight from investors.But the 34-year-old, who started Facebook in his dorm room, is standing by his leadership and Facebook's executives and has resisted calls for him to relinquish his role as chairman."That's not the plan," Zuckerberg said during an interview with CNN that aired on Tuesday. "I'm not currently thinking that that makes sense."The latest controversy comes as Facebook's standing among the public and political leaders has been devastated. The company has seen more than a quarter of its value wiped out this year amid data privacy issues, strict regulations in Europe, the threat of regulations in the U.S. and stagnant user growth.Its also been reported that Facebook had employed a propaganda firm that was trying to smear the company's critics.And on Capitol Hill, every negative story about Silicon Valley helps fuel the growing political will to regulate the largest internet giants.When the Times story broke last week, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who's in line to lead the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, tweeted, "Facebook cannot be trusted to regulate itself."And Lamb of Arjuna Capital says that despite some optimistic forecasts from analysts, Facebook's leadership is jeopardizing its revenue stream with its response to the mounting scandals."At its core, the company has lost the trust not only of its investors and lawmakers but of its users, and that's the death knell. That's the biggest risk to the company because that's what pays the bills," Lamb said.