Facebook’s $300 Billion Milestone Proves Small Social Army Can Beat a Corporate Goliath

Analyst Alan Wolk tells TheWrap how impressive it is for the tech giant with a “very small workforce” to pass General Electric in market valuation

Facebook surpassed the $300 billion market cap milestone on Wednesday as the company released earnings that showed revenues up 41 percent and the company clicking on all cylinders.

The market value number moved the social platform ahead of the likes of General Electric ($298 billion), Johnson & Johnson ($282 billion) and Wells Fargo ($279 billion) while trailing Apple ($680 billion), Google ($520 billion) and Microsoft ($435 billion).

At most, the milestone offers “bragging rights,” media analyst Alan Wolk told TheWrap. But he pointed to a bigger underlying accomplishment the company built off of likes, connectivity and memorable photos achieved.

“It shows what a large and powerful force they are,” he said. “Probably the most significant aspect is that they have a very small workforce for a company with that sort of cap.”

Wolk noted Facebook is built on a small army of engineers while the company it just passed in market value, General Electric, has manufacturing plants all over the world with hundreds of thousands of employees.

As of September, Facebook had 11,996 employees, the company reported. General Electric had 307,000 as of Dec. 2013.

Social media expert David Neuman said it’s “no accident” Facebook has turned likes into cash.

“The network has always done a great job of growing its user base, hiring talent, and monetizing as they expand their features and functionality,” Neuman, Director of Social Media Services at Prime Visibility, told TheWrap.

He cautioned against expecting other social platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Snapchat to sniff anywhere near a $300 billion market cap.

But if they continue to grow their user bases, build out technology and successfully monetize, they will grow their wallets at respectable rates.

So what’s Mark Zuckerberg to do next after $300 billion?

“Video & mobile will continue to be big this year,” Neuman concluded, pointing to the growth in usage and ad dollars around Facebook video and Instagram as the next frontier.

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