In my opinion, the only people who will be getting rich off
of the Facebook IPO are people who already have shares of stock in the company,
pre-sale. Everyone else: avoid it for a long time.
Here’s why:
·
Early adopters beware. Tech IPOs have been
notorious for jumping up initially and then crashing down to a price lower than
the initial IPO.
·
I don’t like Facebook as a product. The
interface has always been clunky and it won’t be long before the new “timeline”
feature automatically replaces that photo of you puking on a clown with an ad
for a fabric cleaner. Puke.
·
Its prospects for growth are suspect at best.
Facebook has nearly a billion people already signed up. But how many more of
the 6+ billion people on earth really have access to the Internet? Yes, you
could say there’s 80% of the market untapped, but I question how many people
will still sign up if they haven’t already.
·
Their ad model sucks. I have never clicked on a
Facebook ad and I doubt many of my friends have either. Sure, a few suckers
might be “fans” of brands, but those brands are probably providing some sort of
value. A crappy banner ad … not so valuable to me, the consumer.
·
What, exactly, do they produce? I bought some
shares of Home Depot for $21 and they are now worth close to $45. Why? Because
people in civilized countries will always have a need for raw building
materials. Up-to-the-minute updates from my narcissistic friends*? Not so
essential.
·
MySpace. Just sayin’.
*You know who you are, don’t you?
