Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.
Topic
Buy-versus-build calls and the correspondence around them.
6 letters · most recent first
Mark Zuckerberg ·Meta Platforms, Inc. ·11 FEB 2012
If a small competitor has already won the use case your future depends on, the cheapest option is usually to buy them — before the market figures out how valuable they are.
David Drummond ·Google ·23 MAR 2007
A build-it-yourself plan is only valid until a competitor's checkbook makes the timeline irrelevant.
Neal Mohan ·Google LLC ·23 MAR 2009
An acquired business is worth more than its P&L — cut it like a standalone and you destroy the very reason you bought it.
Neal Mohan ·Google LLC ·11 OCT 2010
Sometimes you acquire a rival not to use what they built, but to stop the clock while you fix what you have.
Mark Zuckerberg ·Facebook, Inc. ·28 FEB 2012
Eight years later, this paragraph would be sitting in front of a House subcommittee, a federal judge, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Satya Nadella ·Microsoft ·13 OCT 2023
Read this memo as a brief to Microsoft employees and it is bland. Read it as a brief to regulators, courts, and reporters and it is meticulous.