FYI: Jason Calacanis asked Ron Conway specifically about Zuckerberg cashing out some money[1] and he had no problem with it because FB is in no danger of running out of money.
I haven't watched the video, but don't understand this reaonsing.
If these rumors are true, Zuck is cashing out Facebook stock. This is independent of the cash balance that Facebook the company has. Even if Facebook's cash balance was low, selling Facebook shares would not affect how much money they have left.
My understanding is that Conway doesn't like it when an unproven startup founder takes money out of the potential investment. If an investor is willing to put in $10 million, and the founder immediately pockets $2 million, that's $2 million less runway.
I'm not sure that's really accurate, and he definitely has a skewed perspective being 1. Already rich 2. An investor who refuses to make these kind of deals.
It's funnier to leave it up, at least as long as the retraction is sitting near it on the front page. The two together are a meta-story about Vallewag.
1. http://www.calacanis.com/2007/07/20/calacaniscast-beta-30/