April 24, 2012 SouthAmerica: Facebook is a very good social networking website that allows me to see the pictures that my family members post to their FB wall â pictures of family events that occur on a regular basis on various states in Brazil. We also post YouTube videos about our favorite tunes, and videos about world events. I never pay any attention to any advertisements posted on FB. I have no idea why this company would be worth a market cap of between US$ 75 and US$ 100 billion dollars. Maybe they are talking in Zimbabwe dollars. Reality check: At best this company should be worth just a few billion US dollars in market cap. *** Bloomberg Businessweek â April 24, 2012 What If Facebook Isnât So Special After All? http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-24/what-if-facebook-isn-t-so-special-after-all As the fateful day of Facebookâs initial public offering draws closer, the giant social networkâs financial results are attracting more attention. And while its recently updated securities filing shows some blockbuster numbersâincluding a mind-boggling 900 million active users, half a billion of whom use the site dailyâit also reveals some potential red flags, including rapidly rising costs for marketing and other expenses. All of this raises the question that investors will need to answer before too long: Is Facebook unlike anything we have seen before, or is it just another modestly profitable Web business? ...In a recent essay on Facebookâs prospects, investment adviser Josh Brown called it a âred giantââa star that, having grown too large, starts to consume its own resources and eventually implodes and becomes a white dwarf. Investors who are looking for a meteoric return on the companyâs initial offering should consider that they may wind up with shares of something very different. .
April 25, 2012 SouthAmerica: Today I was driving and had my car radio on Bloomberg News, and at that point I started listening to an interview with the Godfather Lloyd C. Blankfein the mobster in charge of the mafia family called âGoldman Sachs the Pillage Peopleâ. *** Interview with Godfather Lloyd C. Blankfein Chief of âGoldman Sachs the Pillage Peopleâ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...n-says-markets-may-show-things-go-right-.html ...Lloyd C. Blankfein said on this interview that GS is returning capital to their shareholders primarily by share buybacks and that was an important strategy for GS. But Lloyd C. Blankfein should have explained a little further why this GS share buybacks strategy is so important for GS stock â It gives the opportunity of create demand for GS stock first thing in the morning when they start trading, and also in the last half hour of trading to push the price of the stock up and give the impression that there's more demand for GS stock than otherwise. In essence this share buyback strategy gives the opportunity to manipulate the price of the stock â mainly now with the blind leverage of âhigh frequency tradingâ these share buybacks help to inflate the price of the stock even more. Probably without this constant stock buybacks events, then the price of GS stock it would be trading for less than $ 75 per share instead of the current $ 113 per share as of April 25, 2012. That's why GS stock goes up on a regular basis with a low volume of stock being traded â GS is creating its own demand for the shares of its own stock. ***** Lloyd Blankfein is the Godfather of "Goldman Sachs the Pillage People" and has a net worth of $450 million. Lloyd Blankfein has earned his net worth partly as a corporate tax lawyer for Donovan, Leisure, Newton and Irvine but mainly from his time at Goldman. He joined J Aaron and Company in 1981, in the London office, and served as a precious metals salesman. J. Aaron & Company is Goldmanâs commodity trading arm. Goldman Sachs has been taking a lot of criticism from lawmakers about their involvement in hiding debts made by Greece, and for the operation of Goldman Sachs pay practices. Blankfein testified in front of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, stating that the company was not a product maker, but only a primary market maker. He also told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, that they were under no obligation to tell clients that they were betting against the same products made by Goldman Sachs. Blankfein and Goldman Sachs employees have been major contributors for Democratic candidates, such as, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. With almost a million dollar contribution from Goldman Sachs employees and Blankfein, their company helped to raise the most money for the 2008 campaign for Obama. He also stated that the company was sorry for unspecified â things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret. Lloyd Blankfein was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1954. His father worked at the U.S. Postal Service as a clerk, and his mother was a receptionist. He attended the public schools in the New York City Department of Education and attended high school at Thomas Jefferson High. He was their Valedictorian, in 1971. He earned his A.B. at Harvard College and a J.D. Degree at Harvard Law School. He married Laura Susan Jacobs,(a former lawyer) in 1983 and they have three adult children. Their two sonâs, Alex and Johnathan have positions at Goldman Sachs. Apparently, the boys are doing quite well at Goldman Sachs. Alex took home $155, 000 for his first year, which most recent college grads only bring home around $50,000. Johnathan Blankfied was given center seat at the energy trading desk, while most would have been stuck somewhere in the corners of the room. ***** Goldman Sucks and Goldman Banksters and the Facebook Connection http://www.disinfo.com/tag/goldman-sachs/ .
So you started a thread of repeating 4 pages of bearish forcasts on the facebook ipo. What if he stock rallies? Anyone have a positive view? Anyone other then south america have something to say?
April 27, 2012 SouthAmerica: I don't know if you ever heard of John Marks Templeton, he died a few years ago. You can read about my association with Mr. Templeton on the following thread: In Memorium: John Marks Templeton http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131282 I believe that people such as John Marks Templeton, and even people like Warren Buffett, and Michael Price would not invest their money in the coming Facebook IPO. The fact that âGoldman Sachs the Pillage Peopleâ is involved on this IPO is another reason to not touch this stock. âGoldman Sachs the Pillage Peopleâ it would tell you how a great an investment this stock is at the same time that they would be cashing out and unloading the stock that they are holding of this company. The good news is that the world is full of suckers, and Facebook should get as much money as they can from these fools. Facebook is cashing out at the right time, before they start declining and becomes obvious to everybody. I have been spending a lot less time on Facebook than I used to spent in the past, and many of my friends on Facebook also have been spending less time on Facebook â some of them check their Facebook just once in a while instead of multiple times a day. I also noticed that many of my friends are posting a lot less items on Facebook than before. The decline of Facebook probably is already underway. You might get lucky and even manage to make a few bucks on the Facebook IPO â you should be glad the Wall Street has a very large supply of fools and suckers for their disposal. .
May 4, 2012 SouthAmerica: Wow, I had no idea that a few pictures of my family and friends were so valuable, and most of this people are scattered not only around here in the US, but also in Brazil, in various cities and various states in Brazil. I joined on November 2007 â by the time of the Facebook IPO becomes a reality I have been a member of Facebook for 4 and ½ years. As I mentioned on another posting on this thread I joined Facebook on November 21, 2007, and since that time I got connected to 237 people - the number of my current friends on Facebook. From the 237 people about 135 are family and friends, another 80 people are famous authors, economists, Brazilian and American politicians, and Wall Street television commentators. And another 22 people contacted me over time because they wanted to connect to me on Facebook. I also turned down a large number of people over the years who wanted to be my friend on Facebook. I have multiple Facebook accounts, and I know other people who also have multiple FB accounts that are used for different purposes. I never paid any attention to any adds that they show on Facebook, and I also never played any games at Zynga. I have seen on FB hundreds of pictures over the years of relatives and friends at all kinds of family gatherings, for all kinds of occasions. And it is a pleasure to keep in touch with family and friends in that way, and some of this people I have not seen in person in years. But I noticed on my circle of family and friends that people don't check their FB wall as often than you do when you first start using Facebook. I also spend a lot less time reading the postings on Facebook. I had asked some of the young people of my family if they played Zynga games, and I was told that mostly new members of Facebook play these games until they get bored and stop playing it. A Facebook valuation around US$ 96 billion dollars in market cap is insane to me. But again, a Facebook valuation in market cap around US$ 10 billion dollars I still can't see how one can justify such a valuation using common sense. Anyway, Mark Zuckerberg is a lucky man, since he can take advantage of the thousands of fools and suckers that get screwed by Wall Street, and all these fools are ready to give away their hard earned money for a Fairy Tale. Thanks to these fools and suckers the Wall Street insiders can unload and cash out, and take all these fools for a ride once again...... Welcome to La La Land..... ***** How Much Is Facebook Really Worth? - May 3, 2012 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XDWWoBobU80" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> MarketWatch's Dan Gallagher dissects how much Facebook is worth, after the social-networking titan priced its initial public offering. ***** Bloomberg News â May 3, 2012 Facebook Seeks Up to $11.8 Billion in Biggest Web IPO http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...-as-11-8-billion-in-biggest-internet-ipo.html Facebook Inc. (FB), the worldâs most popular social-networking site, is seeking as much as $11.8 billion in its initial public offering, the largest on record for an Internet company. About 337.4 million shares are being sold at $28 to $35 each, according to a regulatory filing from Menlo Park, California-based Facebook. That compares with the 2.92 billion euro ($2.8 billion) IPO for German Internet company T-Online International AG in 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Founded in 2004 and led by 27-year-old Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has amassed more than 900 million users and reported a 24-fold increase in sales over the past four years. The companyâs popularity as a tool for staying connected online will spur demand for the stock, even as some investors steer clear of a valuation they deem too high, said Francis Gaskins, president of researcher IPOdesktop.com. âSome people will buy Facebook stock no matter what -- theyâll just buy it,â said Gaskins, who is based in Marina Del Rey, California. âThereâs going to be an initial push of enthusiasm and money, but ultimately, in a year or so, it will come down to valuation metrics. It has to.â The company was considering an IPO valuation of as high as $100 billion, people with knowledge of the matter have said. At that amount, Facebook would have a market capitalization about half as high as Googleâs -- even though it has one-10th the sales. Offeringâs Origins Facebook is offering 180 million of the shares, while existing owners such as Accel Partners and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million shares, according to the filing. Zuckerberg is offering 30.2 million of his 533.8 million of shares in the sale. The majority of his net proceeds will be used to pay taxes associated with exercising a stock option. Facebook filed for the IPO Feb. 1, using a placeholder amount of $5 billion. Zuckerberg, a co-founder, is the companyâs top holder, filings show. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are leading Facebookâs IPO. The shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FB. The initial share sale would dwarf the 2004 IPO of Google, Facebookâs biggest competitor for online ads and the worldâs most valuable internet company. Googleâs offering, the same year Zuckerberg helped found Facebook, raised $1.9 billion and valued the company then at about $23 billion. ...Facebookâs revenue surged 88 percent last year to $3.71 billion, with online advertising accounting for almost all of it. ***** Bloomberg Businessweek â May 3, 2012 âFacebook Valuing Itself at Up to $96 Billion in IPOâ Facebook Inc. (FB), the worldâs most popular social-networking site, is valuing itself at as much as $96 billion in an initial public offering, the largest on record for an Internet company. ...Offeringâs Origins Facebook is offering 180 million shares, while existing owners such as Accel Partners and Digital Sky Technologies are offering 157.4 million, according to the filing. Zuckerberg is offering 30.2 million of his 533.8 million shares. The majority of his net proceeds will be used to pay taxes associated with exercising a stock option. Zuckerberg may control about 57 percent of the voting power of Facebookâs outstanding capital stock after the offering, according to the filing. Sandberg, who isnât selling in the offering, holds 1.9 million shares. Facebook will have 2.14 billion Class A and B common shares outstanding following the IPO, worth about $75 billion at the top end of the price range. Including restricted stock units, options and common stock to be issued following the purchase of Instagram Inc., the shares outstanding would total 2.74 billion, implying a market value of $96 billion at the high end. Facebookâs Float Facebook isnât pursuing the so-called âlow-floatâ strategy employed by some Internet companies to boost initial demand for their stock. The company is making 16 percent of its class A and class B common stock public in the sale, a higher proportion than Internet peers Groupon Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Pandora Media Inc. sold in their IPOs, Bloomberg data show. Taking into account other shares, options and restricted stock units that may be added, the float would be about 12 percent. On average, the 28 Internet companies that have completed U.S. IPOs since the beginning of 2011 have floated 17 percent of their shares, Bloomberg data show. In a typical initial offer, investors receive shares worth closer to 20 percent of the company, according to Paul Deninger, a senior managing director at New York-based investment bank Evercore Partners Inc. http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...ng-itself-at-up-to-96-billion-in-internet-ipo .
May 5, 2012 SouthAmerica: Let's take the suckers and fools for a ride. Bloomberg News â May 4, 2012 Who's Cashing In and Out of Facebook? http://www.bloomberg.com/video/92001259/ ***** Keiser Report: How bankers stole Labor Day â May 1, 2012 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qYiqKAH9KmA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert discuss the bull market in discontent, MF Global clients begging JP Morgan for their money back, "Zynga insiders dumping shares" in an 'innovative' manner and Max does a mean impersonation of Jamie 'Pick a pocket or two' Dimon. .
May 15, 2012 SouthAmerica: If you buy Facebook stock in the coming IPO. Here is what you are buying: A lot of "HYPE". Please don't feel bad if you lose money by buying the Facebook stock, it is a good experience for you...besides companies such as "Goldman Sachs the Pillage People" are counting with suckers like yourself for them to cash out. Thanks to suckers and fools like yourself is what keeps the stock market bubble going another day. Just remember the Facebook IPO is at the point where the internet stock bubble blows up - you are among those people who bought the stock right before the bubble burst, and you lost your shirt. Next time instead of buying into hype, you should do your homework and buy something with a real value and substance. .
What's wrong with hype? As long as you know that this is just hype AND your timing is right, you can make money. Hell, most internet stocks are hype, and lots of people made lots of money with them. Some people rode the NFLX hype just fine last year. Just keep in mind, timing is crucial... If you don't like the game, don't play it....
May 15, 2012 SouthAmerica: As long as you're aware of that this is not an investment - it is just a game to see if you can make a quick buck. As long as there's a bigger sucker than you, then you will be fine, and you will make some quick money. The price of the "Facebook IPO" it would be hard to justify at a market cap of US$ 10 billion dollars - at a market cap between US$ 93 to US$ 103 billion dollars this IPO it's completely insane, and investors shouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. .
I wouldnt buy it, but why do you think it would be hard to justify a $10 billion market cap? Facebook makes $5 billion dollars per year. Which makes its price only 20 times earnings. By comparison, Visa makes $9 billion per year and has a $78 billion dollar market cap. I think Facebook has a fair value of around $50 billion right now, but I still wouldnt buy it at that market cap because of the risk factor. AOL was worth almost 200 billion 12 years ago. Today its worth 2.5 billion, just a little over 1% of its old value. Same thing could happen to FB. But I think many of you do not understand FBs marketing capability. FB is the equivalent of owning the only TV station in the world that airs the superbowl, world cup, and all boxing ppv events. The advertising paid to reach these audiences is staggering, and its as if the superbowl, world cup and world heavyweight title is being fought every single day. Now sure that could change in the future, but right now FB has all the customers. So it does have more value than most of you think, but the risk that FB might not be top dog in 5 years makes this investment not worth it.