Facebook: Will it Pay to Stay on Top?

Over the past five years, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, along with Divya Narendra, have been accusing Facebook "creator" Mark Zuckerberg of stealing the source code, design and business plan for Faceboook from them. The two sides of the story have been publically battling since 2003 but according to the New York Times, they are close to reaching an agreement; apparently Zuckerberg is settling.

According to the plaintiffs, Zuckerberg briefly worked as a programmer for their social-networking site ConnectU when they were all students at Harvard. Winklevoss described Zuckerberg's actions as "premeditated, well thought out, duplicitous and conniving." Zuckerberg has of course denied all wrongdoing. But why then, would he settle? Could it be that Zuckerberg has made so much money off of his allegedly stolen idea that he can afford to pay off his challengers to stay on top?

For the full story, go to Portfolio.com