Choe's Facebook Stock Gamble

A story about how artist David Choe chose Facebook stock instead of cash payment for painting Facebook's office walls, primarily because of Sean Parker's charisma.

David Choe was offered $60,000 to paint Facebook's office walls. When asked on Howard Stern why he took stock instead of cash, he explained it wasn't because he believed in the company - he actually hated everything about it.

"I asked Sean what's this company? He starts describing Facebook as a social network for college kids. I was like 'dude that's lame as shit.' I wasn't on Friendster, wasn't on MySpace, I hate that shit. And this is for college students? Oh even worse - I hate education, I hate college, I never went, I don't even like college students. And it's only starting on Harvard and Stanford campus? I hate Harvard, I hate Stanford."

But he took the stock for one reason: Sean Parker's confidence. Every time he'd hang out with Parker, Parker would say "I'm gonna make some shit happen." Before meeting with Peter Thiel, Parker said "I gotta raise money for Facebook. I'm gonna bend these fuckers' minds." When he came back, he had raised the money from what turned out to be some of the richest men in America.

Choe concluded: "This little nerd, this scrawny nerd, he's got a lot of swag and confidence. I sized him up and thought 'this guy's going somewhere.' So that's why I took the stock."

The stock later became worth approximately $200 million.