I agree with the original post. 1. But we do not live in a world of real value, we live in a world of perceived value. 2. Facebook could be looking to go public this year. 3. Goldman likes to make money 4. I like to make money. 5. If facebook goes public since it is so well known world wide it would be like google going public again. It will make all early investors so much money that after they cashout they would not really care if facebook ever makes $5 billion a year in profits let alone $50 billion. 6. Its all about what the company will make early investors. Think like an investor!
people use facebook to communicate..like the phone..instead of phone they send messages...... myspace laying off as advertising can't pay the bills...advertising or general advertising tonnes of unsold inventory.
FB is the future. the potential revenue derived from their advertising ops surpass goggle's or any other communication company. also, if you're not on FB already, then you're dead or at least voluntarily ostracized from the outside world. i understand most of the wackos on this site which are primarily off the grid conspiracy fruit cakes wouldn't find any value in what FB provides but the sad reality is 99.99% of the people thinks otherwise. as far as valuation is concerned, just check where AAPL is right now and what people used to say about them when their valuation was $50B and their main product was the iPod.
Scary stuff.. how long before Facbook is worth $250 billion and Zuckerburg is the richest man in the world? But the thing is 6 years ago Facebook didnt even exists, 12 years ago there was no Google and 18 years ago there was no Yahoo. The next big thing is just around the corner and will be the worlds #1 website and take out facebook.. no idea what it is though..
Zuckerberg doesn't really want to go public: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01...rs-freedom-from-scrutiny/?partner=rss&emc=rss Hate to break it to you, but national/geographical versions of FB exist. For example in the Latin America Hi5.com is the more popular than FB...
I personally have no opinion on the valuation of Facebook, but many seem to think it is grossly overvalued at $50B. While it is true - the next big thing is right around the corner - just remember Google. A few years ago people were saying the exact same thing about Google. Overvalued, overhyped, will never last, etc. etc. So far things are going quite well for Google. So my point is don't get married to the idea that Facebook is overvalued, because you just never know...
The one huge difference between Google and FB is that Google has been able to cash in on its popularity. That is not so obvious with FB. Take a look at Myspace. They ruined it with ads and people switched to FB. The same thing happened with Digg where users switched to Reddit, after Digg went heavy with ads. Unfortunatelly Reddit is still losing money. And Digg lost its userbase. I like to compare successful but unprofitable sites to a free soupkitchen. Let's say you are giving out free soup to people. Of course it is popular, but eventually you have to find a way to make money, a huge userbase doesn't always equal financial success....