Law firm discloses value of Facebook-ConnectU settlement

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 12 February 2009 06:29

IT Industry - Market

The settlement between Facebook and ConnectU was supposed to be a secret, but the law firm that acted for the latter has let slip that it was $US65 million.

The background to the case is that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg allegedly stole the idea for the social networking site from his former employer Harvard Connect (now ConnectU).

The matter was settled last year, with the terms supposed to remain secret.

According to an article written by Zusha Elinson for The Recorder, Quinn Emanuel - the law firm representing ConnectU - trumpeted a $US65 million settlement in its January newsletter.

Ironically, ConnectU dumped Quinn Emanuel and a dispute over fees is in arbitration. Quinn Emanuel is reportedly seeking $US13 million.

Since the much of the settlement was apparently in the form of Facebook stock, the ConnectU founders are most likely worse off than they were at the time they agreed to the deal.