Facebook IPO

The potential of Facebook as a stock is obvious. So's the risk. When the inevitable scandal about abuses of the information Facebook generates hits the fan, there will be clamor for government action, or laws written by a group of legislators who have repeatedly demonstrated they're just about getting up to cable television remote use in terms of technology adaptation.
As a result of reading advertising trade journals in my current job, I wouldn't join any social media outlet. Hell, I do most of my cold Internet searching at work.

 

Probably much differently run and more advance but somehow I keep thinking "MySpace".

 

They keep junking up the interface, so it's not out of the question.

 

Can you elaborate on that last part? What did you find?

 

According to the SEC filing FB made $1B in profit on revenues of $3.7B in 2011. That's an amazing profit margin for that amount of revenue.

Stimulus? If people spent that disposable income on consumer goods manufactured in the US, we'd be okay. Then again, at least it doesn't need 700,000 workers in China and it helps the trade deficit.

 

Is it just me, or has Facebook already started becoming uncool? It seems like the grannies and the 12-year-olds are taking over, but I could be wrong...

 

You have no idea how many real-estate agents and luxury-car dealers in the Bay Area are masturbating on an hourly basis in reaction to this news.

 

The IPO shows what a scam going public is. Only a small portion of the company is going public, with the vast majority of stock still in Zuck's hands.

 

That doesn't make it a scam.

A company can sell any portion of itself it wants to the public.

But, by listing those shares, there is now a regulated marketplace for all of the shares to trade, and the entire company can be valued based on the price of the shares traded.

 

How does that make it a scam?

 

Oh, and btw, I'm not sure how you define "vast majority".

From the Times:

28% is still a big chunk for a founder to hold, but it's far from a vast majority.

 

The bigger scam is the investment bankers who price the IPO artificially low so they can sell at the top of the 50 percent run-up on the first day. Zuckerberg and Parker won't care because they'll get billions anyway, but the banker -- can't remember if it's Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs -- will make millions or even billions that they wouldn't make if they just priced the thing honestly.