The book that Facebook doesn't want you to read

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Best-selling author Ben Mezrich is the first to concede he doesn't know exactly what happened between Mark Zuckerberg and the Victoria's Secret model at that San Francisco club in the summer of 2005. He tells the story just as sources reported it to him: a touch on the leg. A grasp of the hand. The pair leaving the club. That's it. Any inference from there is your own.

But man, is there ever inference. In "Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal," due out July 14 from Doubleday, Mezrich spins a fast-paced tale of intrigue and suspicion that follows Facebook's young founder on his ruthless rise to prominence in Silicon Valley. The 262-page narrative portrays Mark Zuckerberg as a hard-hearted genius with a fetish for Asian women who is not above stealing ideas and turning on his friends in his quest to create the dominant social network. "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin has already agreed to write the screenplay, and Daily Variety recently reported that David Fincher ("Fight Club") may direct the movie.

Doubleday labels the book "nonfiction"

Mezrich, who was criticized for making up characters and scenes in his best-selling book "Bringing Down the House," uses a lengthy author's note to broadcast his reporting methodology. He describes his work as a "dramatic narrative account," explaining that he reconstructed dialogue and even, to the extent that it moved the story forward, entire scenes. Some would call this fiction. But Doubleday has bravely labeled it nonfiction. Or as Mezrich told Fortune.com, "There are certain places in the book where I'm sort of doing a legitimate speculation." He calls his work "a best guess."

Of course, Mezrich's primary source for a good deal of the material is Eduardo Saverin, a classmate at Harvard College of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Saverin used earnings from smart investments he'd made as an undergraduate to help start the site, then called TheFacebook.com.

Long before Saverin connected with Mezrich, however, he'd become estranged from Zuckerberg. After Saverin was pushed out of the company, Saverin and Zuckerberg lobbed lawsuits at each other liberally from April 2005 until last August when the suits were dismissed. Over the winter Saverin's name was added to the Facebook web site as one of the cofounders. At about that time Saverin also stopped talking to Mezrich. Saverin didn't respond to Fortune.com's attempts to contact him.

Mezrich remembers meeting Saverin by chance. "It was about 2 a.m. in the morning when I got an email out of the blue to my web site, which is essentially a fan site. This kid wrote an email -- I'm a Harvard senior and I have a really fantastic story for you' -- which of course you hear all the time. But the kid said, 'You know, I've been best friends with these people who founded Facebook, and I want to tell you this story.' I wasn't looking for this story, but I went and met this kid for a drink. So I show up at this bar, Bar 10 at the Westin [hotel in Boston], and the kid shows up with Eduardo Saverin. He wouldn't tell me who Eduardo was at first. It was all kind of secretive. Then Eduardo began to tell me this whole story, and he was clearly upset."

Mezrich is quick to add that "Accidental Billionaires" is based on many other interviews and documents. He got lucky, of course, when thousands of pages of court documentation surfaced after Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, also former classmates of the Facebook founder, sued Zuckerberg claiming he stole their idea. (This suit settled and the twins reportedly received $65 million.)

One person Mezrich never spoke with is Mark Zuckerberg. Says Mezrich, "There was always this 'Mark might talk to you, Mark might talk to you' thing going on, but in the end Mark decided not to talk to me, and he made it pretty clear he didn't want any of the people he's involved with talking to me." In a deft story-telling move, Mezrich turned this deficit in his favor, playing up the mystery behind Zuckerberg's personality.

More at money.cnn.com

Eurozone inflation slumps to 2-year low of 1.6%: EU estimate

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Inflation in the euro countries slumped in December to the lowest level in over two years, according to an official EU estimate on Tuesday and clearing the way for more interest rate cuts.

The European Union's Eurostat data agency estimated that 12-month inflation in the eurozone fell to 1.6 percent in December from 2.1 percent in November, dropping to the lowest level since October 2006.

The European Central Bank strives to keep annual inflation close to but less than 2.0 percent, but the rate had not been below that level since August 2007 amid an oil and commodities prices boom, which has recently deflated.

"December's sharp drop in eurozone CPI inflation ... supports our view that ECB interest rates will fall to almost zero, if not all the way, this year," said Ben May at consultants Capital Economics.

The euro sank against the dollar in the wake of the data, falling to 1.3406 dollars as tumbling eurozone inflation raised expectations the ECB would slash interest rates again next week.

ECB vice president Lucas Papademos said in an interview published on Monday that he saw further room for interest rate cuts if inflation remained low.

"If, in our assessment, the risks to price stability change further in the coming months, monetary policy could be eased further and we will act appropriately," he told German magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

The slump in inflation comes amid growing signs of a deep recession in the eurozone, with a survey showing on Tuesday that service sector activity retreated at the fastest pace on record in December.

After hitting a record high of 4.0 percent in June and July, eurozone inflation has fallen sharply as oil and other commodity prices collapsed in the face of a deep economic downturn.

The drop in inflation has paved the way for a series of interest rate cuts by the ECB, which slashed its main rate last month by a record three quarters of a percentage point to 2.50 percent.

"It looks odds-on that eurozone consumer price inflation will fall well below 1.0 percent during 2009, and a brief period of deflation certainly cannot be ruled out," said IHS Global Insight economist Howard Archer.

The eurozone counts 16 members since Slovakia adopted the currency at the beginning of the month.

[Via news.yahoo.com]

Oil prices rally above $50 as gas row escalates

LONDON (AFP) – Oil prices rose back above 50 dollars on Tuesday as the energy market was shaken by disruptions to gas supplies across Europe, already troubled by a cold snap.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February jumped 1.18 dollars to 50.80 dollars a barrel in late morning trade on London's InterContinental Exchange.

Earlier Tuesday it reached 51.40 dollars -- the highest level since December 1, 2008.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February, climbed 69 cents to 49.50 dollars per barrel, after an intra-day peak of 50.04 dollars.

"Russia continues to play hardball" on gas supplies, said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.

The European Union on Tuesday slammed cuts in natural gas supplies to Europe as "completely unacceptable" as an energy price war raged between Russia and Ukraine.

"This situation is completely unacceptable," said a statement from the EU's presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, and the bloc's executive arm, the European Commission.

Russia has cut supplies bound for Europe via Ukraine in retaliation for Ukraine's alleged theft of Russian gas.

Ukraine denies siphoning off Russian gas and has accused Moscow of engineering the crisis.

Oil prices had already risen sharply on Monday as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensified and major crude producer Iran said OPEC would hold a special meeting next month.

Crude futures have been boosted over the past week as the conflict in Gaza stoked tensions in the key oil-producing Middle East.

"The conflict in Gaza is no threat to the prompt and direct supply of oil but as the humanitarian disaster continues to intensify it could turn to have an indirect impact on oil supplies," added Jakob.

Meanwhile Iran's OPEC representative Mohammad Ali Khatibi on Monday said that the oil producers' cartel would hold an extraordinary meeting in Kuwait in February.

OPEC, whose 12 members together produce about 40 percent of world oil, last month agreed to cut output by 2.2 million barrels per day in a bid to shore up crude prices.

World oil prices fell by about 54 percent in 2008 as a sharp global economic slowdown weighed on energy demand in the second half of the year.

However, in the first half, crude futures rocketed to record highs of above 147 dollars a barrel in July on fears of supply disruptions.

Towards the end of 2008, prices slumped to just above 33 dollars -- the lowest in four and a half years.

Crude oil had begun 2008 by vaulting above 100 dollars for the first time as traders worried about violence in oil exporter Nigeria and supply problems in the key US energy market.

Continued geopolitical tensions then saw oil soar above 120, 130 and 140 dollars on their way to setting all-time highs.

[Via news.yahoo.com]