As commented in another thread, it would be ludicrous for Microsoft, Digital Sky Technologies et al. to allow Mr. Ceglia a seat on Facebook's board. They will explore and deploy every legal option to avoid this. It is not so ludicrous for investment bankers to engineer a tax-minimal FU-style lifestyle for Mr. Ceglia by endowing a non-profit for some pet interest of his choice and paying him handsomely.

If Mr. Ceglia truly wants ownership of Facebook, he is going to have to fight for years. If he wants enough money for a private jet, he just might get it. As will his lawyers.

This could be the most lucrative transaction in the history of Craigslist.

And the twist is if Ceglia truly did have this contract with Zuckerberg, it leaves the ConnectU guys in a particular interesting situation (as the Facebook idea was being worked on way before ConnectU).

"Fuck you" money, basically. The difference between $FU and 2 x $FU is pretty insignificant, so haggling past that point is irrational, but the difference between 10 x $FU and 0 - huge lawyer fees is enormous and the probability of coming up worse than empty way too high. In his position, I'd take a "large" cash (or easily-liquidated) settlement over almost anything available via litigation, even seemingly enormous portions of the company.

Of course, I also don't think Facebook's star is going to exponentially rise over the next three or four years, so I may not be in the majority here.

There is something to be said for the power of litigation. Presumably this guy does not have millions of dollars to spend fighting legal battles for the next ten years no matter how much the evidence is in his favor. Facebook and Zuckerberg do.