Michael Pachter is an oft-quoted video game, social media, digital media and electronics analyst with Wedbush Securities. He is also the Head of Research for the Private Shares Group, a Wedbush division which focuses on companies which have not yet gone public such as Facebook (pre-IPO) and Twitter. He is regularly cited by national publications in the United States, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Pachter worked for 16 years at Arco. He was Arco's director of strategic planning until mid-1998, where he earned a figure in the "high-$100,000s." He said he enjoyed his job there. However, upon hearing that layoffs would come at the company, he asked for "a handsome severance" and received one. He got a Master of Business Administration degree in 1989, and after leaving Arco, went on to work at a mergers-and-acquisition company located in Seal Beach, California in 1999, providing investment banking services to privately held companies. Pach...