from the pool report by Scott Wilson
White House Correspondent
The Washington Post……
Internet and the economy session/second working meeting
The second meeting took place in oval room, with leaders and guests around a large oval table. This session included discussion of the Internet and the economy, and at the table with the leaders were Eric Schmidt of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Yuri Milner of Digital Sky Technologies, Hiroshi Mikitani of Rakuten, Maurice Levy of Publicis and Stephane Richard of Orange.
Before the meeting began, White House aides asked if a pair of fax machines – which in a meeting about the future of the Internet and the economy had the quaint feel of museum pieces – could be moved from the backdrop behind POTUS (they would have appeared directly over his head in photographs.) They were put on the floor, out of sight.
As the group entered at 4:40p.m., German Chancellor Angela Merkel could be heard saying, “I saw it and I liked,” in an excited voice. She was walking in with Sarkozy and Zuckerberg, dressed in a blue suit and tie.
“Did you see it? Did you like it?” she asked Sarkozy, who appeared to nod.
“And did you see it?” she asked Zuckerberg.
“I didn’t like it,” he said with a smile, and the others laughed. The topic almost certainly was “The Social Network.”
“Well, you don’t like this one? Maybe you’ll like the next one,” Merkel told him.
Levy, Schmidt and Milner were at one end of the oval (between Berlusconi and Kan) and Zuckerberg, Richard and Mikitani were on the other (between Van Rompuy and Cameron.)
POTUS was placed in the middle of the table, again between Sarkozy and Cameron.
Cameron arrived a little after some of the others, and went straight to Zuckerberg, who, he introduced himself to while Zuckerberg was still seated.
Eric Schmidt, a little later, called to Zuckerberg (“Mark, here’s the prime minister…”), pointing out Canadian PM Stephen Harper. Zuckerberg got up and walked toward him, shaking his hand.
“We have lost Obama,” Sarkozy said, after everyone else was seated and POTUS still no where in sight.
POTUS arrived a few minutes later, nodded to Zuckerberg and Schmidt, then pool escorted form room…
Off to Kan bilat now…..
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Scott Wilson
White House Correspondent
The Washington Post
