peHUB First Read

* Nicholas Carson goes deep into Facebook's founding * Private equity firms cheer the return of the "staple." Critics justifiably shudder. * Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer: We're "betting our company" on the cloud. The cloud, meanwhile, declined comment. * Steve Schwarzman argues against placement agent bans (sure it's self-serving, but it's also the correct position). My only quibble is that I wish Schwarzman would have called out corrupt PE pros alongside "corrupt political hacks." After all, wouldn't PE pros be the "players" in his baseball/steroids analogy? * Morning Call: U.S. futures rise ahead of monthly jobs report, London rises early, European shares keep climbing, the Nikkei gains 0.3% and Hong Kong shares slip. * Matt Taibbi vs. Rick Santelli * Jerry Colonna: What I learned by eating Oreos * Want to buy Wall Street via an eBay auction? It will only cost you $125k. * Power Players: 50% of successful social game invites come from 10% of users