IMO its a different tone. The first says "no. well... maybe..." [I don't want to undercut the value of the property] whereas the other says "yes. well... maybe..." [I don't want to appear unappreciative of the resources of the company that owns mine].

To be annoyingly precise, the second says: "Maybe, well... yes."

Fair! :) I see how you read it that way; to me perhaps is corporate speak for a noncommittal yes, and eventually is a way of making it even less committal by specifying a long timeline. I mean, anything could happen eventually, it just depends on when you mean.

NYT "journalists" do not care if the drivel they produce even makes sense, they only care to impart a tone.

In this instance, they desired to use this as a setup for a confrontational dynamic between Zuckerberg and the original founders, even though they essentially are saying the same thing.

Yeah, the whole article felt like it hinged on the difference between those two statements, but I was struck by how similar they actually were.