Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg sent a message to newly wealthy employees of the largest social-networking service on the day of its delayed stock-market debut: “Stay focused” and “keep hacking.”
The words were emblazoned on T-shirts handed out during a gathering of more than 2,000 people at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters, according to a person who attended and asked not to be identified because the event was private. They were there to watch Zuckerberg ring a bell marking the opening of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market — an event set back after Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. failed to deliver trade-execution messages.
“Right now, this all seems like a big deal. Going public is an important milestone in our history,” Zuckerberg, who was wearing his trademark hoodie and flanked by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld, told attendees. “But here’s the thing: Our mission isn’t to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.”
Facebook employees, including Zuckerberg himself, had only recently emerged from a “hackathon,” which drew together programmers working through the night crafting code that might be the foundation for a new Facebook feature or application.
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