Facebook delays employee stock sale, citing recession

Facebook was planning to let its employees sell some of their stock in the company per an unconventional plan we discovered this summer. But that plan is now on hold; although, from what we hear it hasn’t been called off for good. Of course, given the current economic uncertainty — Facebook’s stated rationale for the change — one wonders when or how it will resume.

The statement given to me by Facebook:

The global economy is in the midst of an incredibly difficult period, and all companies have been affected in some way. After carefully considering the current environment, we’ve decided to establish an open-ended timetable for an employee stock sale program. Despite the turbulence in the financial markets and resulting challenges, we believe the company is very well positioned to handle this economic downturn. We have the means to go after big opportunities that will help solidify our position as the platform that everyone uses to share while building a fundamentally strong business.

Valleywag says it has obtained an email Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg sent to the company this afternoon:

I’m writing this note to let you know some bad news. Despite a lot of work, we have not been able to finalize a plan for the employee stock sale we announced in August.