Facebook’s Management Team Gets Stronger

Facebook’s (FB) management team continues to get stronger with the recent addition of Susan Taylor as the chief accounting officer. Ms. Taylor comes over from LinkedIn (LNKD) where the company was focused on the white-hot social and mobile side of the economy, so this seems to be a brilliant pickup as she fits in well with what Facebook is trying to do.

Though this may not seem like news to most, it is important to note because the CAO office has actually been vacant at Facebook since the middle of February. Former chief accounting officer Jas Athwal let Facebook know that he was going to be departing in mid-February back in November of last year. Ms. Taylor however will not fill the position immediately, and will commence her duties starting April 17.

In addition to being the chief accounting officer at LinkedIn, Ms. Taylor is also a vice president and the controller of the company and has held all three positions for the past five years. That is a pretty tremendous track record, if I  say so myself, and I believe she will plug and play just nicely with Facebook’s elite management team. Facebook’s management team has an average tenure of 5.6 years and is led by Mark Zuckerberg. On the other hand the average tenure of the board of directors at the company is at 7.8 years.

Source: Simplywall.st

Ms. Taylor’s salary was disclosed to be $400k with a matching sign-on bonus. But we all know that executives don’t make their money off of the salary of their day-to-day jobs, they make it off their annual bonus and their stock incentives. The current bonus plan is for a target of 50% of her base pay and she receives restricted stock units initially valued at $3.5M with a four year vesting plan.

I actually initiated my position in Facebook in late November and have been pretty happy with the purchase thus far. I will only be purchasing shares if they are below $121 because I believe that is where Facebook offers additional value. I've selected $121 because it is the average of the 52-week range and my cost basis.

I swapped out of Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) for Facebook during the 2016 fourth-quarter portfolio change-out because I ended up turning a profit in the name (32.7%, or 33% annualized) and wanted to lock in those gains. Since the swap, it has been a pretty even trade. For now, here is a chart to compare how Facebook and Priceline have done against each other and the S&P 500 since I swapped the names.

Source: Google Finance

When it is all said and done, it matters what the stock has done in an investor's portfolio. For me, Facebook is one of my larger positions and has been doing well as I'm up 13.3% on the name while the position occupies roughly 9.7% of my portfolio. I will make purchases in the stock only if it is below $121.

I own Facebook for the growth portion of my portfolio and I will continue to hold onto the stock for now. My portfolio is up 16.4% since inception while the S&P 500 is up 13.6%. Below is a quick glance at my portfolio and how each position is performing. Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Company

Ticker

% Change
incl. DIV

% of
Portfolio

Facebook, Inc.

(FB)

13.30%

9.69%

AbbVie Inc.

(ABBV)

9.81%

4.04%

PulteGroup, Inc.

(PHM)

4.93%

3.85%

3M Company

(MMM)

1.27%

3.72%

SEI Investments Company

(SEIC)

0.48%

7.38%

O'Reilly Automotive, Inc.

(ORLY)

0.03%

3.67%

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation

(WYN)

-2.18%

3.59%

V.F. Corporation

(VFC)

-2.79%

10.09%

General Electric Company

(GE)

-2.93%

6.50%

Valero Energy Corporation

(VLO)

-3.03%

3.56%

Silver Wheaton Corp.

(SLW)

-14.05%

7.75%

Gilead Sciences Inc.

(GILD)

-14.18%

19.66%

Cash

$

 

16.48%

Disclosure: In addition to the shares I own I am long the March $135 call, short the March $120 strike put, and short the March $140 strike call.
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Comments

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Doug Morris 7 years ago Member's comment

As someone who owns shares in #LinkedIn, how will the loss of Ms. Taylor affect them? Has she been replaced yet? $LNKD $FB

Chee Hin Teh 7 years ago Member's comment

Thanks for sharing

Carol Klein 7 years ago Member's comment

Thanks for sharing your portfolio and bringing this change at #Facebook to my attention. Much appreciated. $FB