When Facebook Inc. filed its proposal Feb. 1 to go public, ittouted the effectiveness of ads linked to customers' friends,citing research from Nielsen, the audience-counting company.
Barbara Jacobs, an assistant director for corporation finance atthe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was skeptical, as sheand her staff vetted the filing to ensure Facebook had disclosedall material information to investors. The claim appeared to bedrawn from marketing materials, not a Nielsen study, she wrote toChief Financial Officer David Ebersman, 42.
She gave him an ultimatum: Produce the study and provideNielsen's consent for use of the data — or don't use it, she wroteto Ebersman on Feb. 28. Facebook dropped the reference afterinitial resistance.
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