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It's no secret that there's a lot of money flowing into (but not out of) Silicon Valley, yet the tech scenesters are trying awfully hard to keep their spending under wraps. Case very much in point: The recent birthday party of Yammer CEO David Sacks, which is gaining a lot of negative attention.
After living the Valley dream, getting his company bought up by Microsoft for $1.2 billion Sacks threw himself a lavish birthday party at the $125 million Fleur de Lys mansion in Beverly Glen over the weekend. Business Insider's Owen Thomas has the cost quoted at $1.4 million, according to one guest, who has no reason to know the actual price. This -- yet again -- proves that Silicon Valley has a lot of money that it only wants to spend on itself. Oh, and in an almost too perfect nod to the selfishness of the current iteration of the tech bubble—where the rich get richer and the rest of us, can't even catch a break—Sacks' party theme was "Let Him Eat Cake," a too-on-the-nose take on Marie Antoinette. But here's the kicker: The party was a big secret. Or at least it was supposed to be before people started tweeting about it, leading us to believe Silicon Valley is a little ashamed of its own over-the-top spending sprees.
Sacks not only told attendees they could not use social media or photo-sharing services at all at the party, he banned journalist friend of his tech blogger Sarah Lacy from attending the party. After mentioning her invite in a post, Lacy got an e-mail from Sacks saying he didn't appreciate the write-up, uninviting her.