Don’t look for him on TLC, but Mark Zuckerberg could soon learn a very costly lesson in “What not to wear.” Taking Facebook’s IPO roadshow to New York, this week, at least
one analyst chided the young mogul for wearing his signature hoodie.
“Mark and his signature hoodie: He’s actually showing investors he doesn’t care that much; he’s
going to be him,” Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “I think that’s a mark of immaturity. I think
that he has to realize he’s bringing investors in as a new constituency right now, and I think he’s got to show them the respect that they deserve because he’s asking them for their
money.”
Yet, many in and around the tech world mocked the analyst’s views on Wednesday.
Joked CNet: “What, no bowing to the bankers who are waiting in line to get in
on the IPO and are in awe of the almost-28-year-old who owns 18.4 percent of the company and 57 percent of the voting shares? He's supposed to dress as if he were dining with the president of the
United States?”
Regarding Pachter, Om Malik wrote on his personal blog: “This analyst is smoking stuff that
is outside the realm of legality. … Now if you were looking for a problem with Zuckerberg’s hoodie, then you should see it for what it really is: a fashion abomination.”
Under the thorough headline, “Odd analyst mocks Zuck’s hoodie, ironically sounding stupid in a suit while do so,” The Next Web writes: “And this is what happens when you
take people from outside of tech … and collide them with topics that they don’t understand.”
What’s more, as multiple reports noted, Pachter can't be too concerned
with Zuckerberg's wardrobe. While the analyst expressed doubts about Zuck’s long term prospects as CEO, he had enough faith in the boy wonder to set a price target for Facebook at the higher
range, $44, while giving the company an outperform rating.
Not all Web watchers are as bullish on Facebook, however. For one, HuffingtonPost’s Charles Gasparino said Zuck and his team have so far failed to provide
potential investors with an adequate answer to the fundamental question: “Why do we need Facebook and is it worth a $100 billion valuation?”