Facebook's last hackathon before going public is a go

Facebook is hosting one last hackathon as a private company just before it goes public. The event ends when Zuckerberg rings the Nasdaq bell remotely and FB shares start trading for the first time.

On Wednesday a rumor suggested that Facebook had scheduled an all-nighter hackathon for Thursday at its Menlo Park headquarters. This has now been confirmed by a Facebook employee. The event will end with Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ringing the Nasdaq bell remotely to signal the company has gone public.

Speaking of rumors, I'm hearing Facebook employees are all going to be wearing hoodies on Friday for the big day. If you don't get the reference, watch this: Analyst: Mark Zuckerberg's hoodie is ‘a mark of immaturity'.

Anyway, back to the hackathon. Here's the proof, courtesy of Facebook Director of Product Blake Ross:

Facebook's 31st hackathon will kick off from this spot in just a few hours. Thousands of people from across the company will stay up all night long to build brand new Facebook products. Then, at 6:30AM, Mark will open the NASDAQ from this spot and Facebook will begin trading on the public stock markets.

What should we work on tonight? What features or fixes would you most like to see in Facebook? — at Facebook HQ.

This hackathon will probably result in some new product ideas and features, unlike the last one we heard about: Facebook engineers + paint + beer = giant QR code on roof (video). After all, it's the last one Facebook will have as a private company. In the next few weeks, we'll probably hear about what Facebook engineers came up with. I admit; I'm excited.

More photos: Keith Peiris and Jez Burrows

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