Who Owns Facebook?

According to this story the answer is not so clear. A guy named Paul Ceglia recently sued Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, contending that Ceglia owns 84% of the company. Ceglia says he hired Zuckerman to help him with coding for a project called “StreetFax.” Zuckerman, then a Harvard student, told Ceglia about his idea to develop an online yearbook for Harvard students (raise your hand if you’re saying to yourself “why didn’t I think of that”). According to Ceglia, he and Zuckerman entered into a contract that covered Zuckerman’s coding job and Ceglia’s investment in Zuckerman’s concept. In the federal court proceeding in Buffalo, Ceglia’s lawyer produced a “work for hire” agreement that lays out the deal. Here’s the interesting part. A lawyer for Facebook admits that Zuckerman had a contract with Mr. Ceglia, but says that there are “serious questions” about the authenticity of the contract Ceglia produced. The question I have is this. Assuming Facebook is worth $24.6 billion, and Ceglia claims he’s entitled to 84%, does his lawyer stand to get 1/3? If so, that’s about $6.8 billion. Whoa.