After almost seven years of litigation, the Winklevoss twins dropped their case against Wednesday, choosing instead to hang on to their settlement.
Their initial suit against Facebook claimed that they had conceived the concept for the social network. That case concluded when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg settled with them in 2008 for about $45 million in Facebook shares, and $20 million in cash.
They twins weren’t satisfied with their lot and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, arguing that federal and securities laws had been violated when didn’t tell them about an internal stock valuation that had taken place before Microsoft invested $240 million in the company in 2007, among other charges.
That internal valuation valued their shares at about a quarter of the price per share that Microsoft paid for preferred stock in the company. Some say those shares are worth more than $200 million now, although placing an exact value on the shares would be pure speculation. The Appeals Court Justices threw out the case, setting a precedent that they are not going to attempt to reverse.
In other news, is in the process of
Still, I don't have a lot of sympathy for Zuckerberg. He has already agreed that he screwed them (in his first settlement). Now they are just arguing over price.