At a Fortune conference earlier this week, Larry Summers said in an interview that he learned one invaluable lesson about people while running Harvard: “If an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an a**hole.” Summers was not speaking generally about assholes but two in particular, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who in 2004, complained to the then Harvard president that Mark Zuckerberg had stolen their idea for Facebook. In the Social Network, Summers is portrayed as being a bit brusque with the Winklevii, essentially to fuck off and go waste someone else’s time, a portrayal he has described as entirely accurate, and for which he makes no apology, on account of the asshole assessment. Apparently the twins caught wind of Summers’ comments and yesterday took the time to respond, via open letter. Spoiler alert: they’re not happy (with Summers’ lack of ‘tact,’ his refusal to shake their hands, the sight of his feet on his desk, and this ‘unprecedented betrayal’): Continue reading »
Larry Summers
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss Turn Fury Typically Reserved for Mark Zuckerberg on Larry Summers
By Bess Levin
What did Larry Summers really think of the Winklevoss twins? “Rarely, have I encountered such swagger, and I tried to respond in kind,” the former president of Harvard said in an interview at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss were at Harvard at the same time that Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, and they had come to Summers for help in their fight for a piece of the action. Summers dismissed them, a scene dramatized in the movie the “Social Network.” Summers didn’t try to dispel the portrayal. “One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an a**hole. This was the latter case.” [Fortune]
Morning Money hears that at yesterday’s executive meeting, Blackstone chief Steve Schwarzman took a shot at former NEC Chair Larry Summers’ FT column calling for a number of actions to spur job growth, including expanding the payroll tax cut to employers. “I thought I was looking at a Saturday Night Live script,” Schwarzman said, according to our source. “Who was in charge the past two years?” [MM via BI]
A U.S. appeals court ruled Monday that the Winklevoss twins can’t back out of a settlement they struck with Facebook Inc. to resolve claims that founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for the social network. In a 2008 settlement…Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss got $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook stock to drop their suit claiming that Mr. Zuckerberg deceived them when he agreed to work for their company, called ConnectU, on a similar website…after they signed the settlement, the Winklevosses said they learned that Facebook’s board had adopted an internal valuation of just $3.7 billion. Had this lower valuation been used, the Winklevoss twins would have received more Facebook shares as part of their settlement. [WSJ]
Related: Larry Summers Will Not Apologize For Being A Dick To The Winklevoss Twins
Mitt Romney says that if he runs for president, “I won’t be asking Tim Geithner how the economy works—or Larry Summers how to start a business.” Have you ever talked business strategy with Governor Romney? He was very interested in what Harvard and I could do to help during the time when he was governor of Massachusetts. Are you surprised to hear him attacking your business acumen? No. You shouldn’t work in Washington if you are not prepared to become an object of symbolic attack. My recollection is that in his highly successful business career, Governor Romney did a fair amount of job-destroying at a number of companies that his firm purchased. [Newsweek]
Those of you who’ve seen The Social Network know there is a scene in which Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (AKA The Winklevi) go to Larry Summers, the then president of Harvard, to complain that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook. In the movie, Summers is portrayed as a bit of a dick, essentially telling the Winks to fuck off and go waste someone else’s time. Was the portrayal accurate, Summers was asked this morning? Hell yeah it was. And you want to know another thing? Big Lar doesn’t regret for one second telling those little shits to get out of his office. Continue reading »
They haven’t had nice things to say about him over the past year and a half. Called him McSleeps a lot and, oh, the jokes about his Diet Coke consumption came fast and furiously. But now that he’s announced he’s taking off, suddenly the business community wants the lovable schlub back, according to Charlie Gasparino. Apparently no one wants ot live in a world without Big Lar. Continue reading »
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