6 ms·

Attempt to provide an alternate POV: "The truly staggering valuation of $50 billion that Goldman Sachs has placed on Facebook, the Internet social networking w

Attempt to provide an alternate POV: "The truly staggering valuation of $50 billion that Goldman Sachs has placed on Facebook, the Internet social networking website is significantly higher than the estimated $30 billion value of silver held in [all] the vaults of the world." http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1294236772.php http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1294236772.php

paulbaumgart 16y ago
I really don't understand how the price of silver is related to Facebook's valuation.
- artpop 16y ago
  All of the world's silver is supposedly worth less than a shitty social networking site...
  - colinplamondon 16y ago
    I decided to go to Medellin for NYE, and then work from Bogota for a few weeks to get away from the Boston cold. Guess how Colombians all stay in contact? Facebook. No one here knows what IM is. They just know Facebook Chat and MSN. The scale of Facebook's domination among under 30's is massive, and global. Nothing shitty about it.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    I'd like to sell you some silver. Let's get on the phone soon.
- patrickgzill 16y ago
  It is an attempt to provide perspective. Silver has many industrial and high-tech uses; Facebook is basically MySpace 2.0.
  - tptacek 16y ago
    The value of silver fluctuates. If you cornered the world's silver market, it would get a lot pricier. But right now, anyone who charged you for silver at some hypothetical Facebook-parity valuation would get their lunch eaten by everyone else who will sell you silver at its market price. Facebook, on the other hand, is not substitutable. There exists no comparable social network (with a comparable number of active users) from which you can buy targeted ads, or game users, or whatever other product Facebook launches down the road.
    - patrickgzill 16y ago
      The value of Facebook, Google, MSFT, GE, etc. also fluctuates (see stock charts) as well. Thus I am not exactly sure what your point is; I admitted I was offering only an alternate POV. "Facebook is not substitutable" - I am sure that 5 years ago some were saying the same about MySpace. In fact, they were! 60 seconds of searching found me: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061005/104155.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061005/104155.shtml (MySpace should have been valued at $20 Billion according to Brad Greenspan) http://www.itstheroi.com/search-engine-marketing/google-%E2%80%93-myspace-deal-a-huge-setback-for-community-sites/ http://www.itstheroi.com/search-engine-marketing/google-%E2%... (Google/MySpace deal to add $15 Billion to valuation of parent company News Corp.; deal is a huge setback to other sites) http://mashable.com/2006/09/27/myspace-worth-20-billion/ http://mashable.com/2006/09/27/myspace-worth-20-billion/ (RBC analyst evaluates MySpace) http://mashable.com/2006/07/11/myspace-americas-number-one/ http://mashable.com/2006/07/11/myspace-americas-number-one/ (MySpace has 80% of social network traffic, Facebook < 8% )
      - tptacek 16y ago
        Perhaps 5 years ago, MySpace was similarly difficult to substitute (I don't know). What I think I do know is that it would be riotously hard to bring a substitute for Facebook to the market. At its peak, MySpace had 1/6th the users Facebook had.
        patrickgzill 16y ago
tptacek 16y ago
This point of view is not very helpful. Google's topline revenue last year --- for one year --- exceeds 3/4 of the value of all currently held silver. Does it sound silly that an Internet search engine is worth more (by a huge amount) than all that silver? It's hard to argue with cash flow. At $50bn, Facebook is valued at 1/4 of what the market currently values Google at. They currently do $2bn/yr in revenue, or ~6% of the world's silver, each year. The silver thing is an interesting benchmark, but you can't draw conclusions from it.
wglb 16y ago
Wow, that's . . . . not very useful. Why not nutmeg as a comparison? Or hydraulic fluid?
- patrickgzill 16y ago
  How much nutmeg or hydraulic fluid is kept in bank vaults and has served the purpose of "money" for thousands of years? Really, your comment is ... not very useful.
damoncali 16y ago
Remember that Goldman passed on this deal before allowing to to flow through to their clients. Says something, doesn't it?

paulbaumgart 16y ago

I really don't understand how the price of silver is related to Facebook's valuation.

artpop 16y ago
All of the world's silver is supposedly worth less than a shitty social networking site...
- colinplamondon 16y ago
  I decided to go to Medellin for NYE, and then work from Bogota for a few weeks to get away from the Boston cold. Guess how Colombians all stay in contact? Facebook. No one here knows what IM is. They just know Facebook Chat and MSN. The scale of Facebook's domination among under 30's is massive, and global. Nothing shitty about it.
- tptacek 16y ago
  I'd like to sell you some silver. Let's get on the phone soon.
patrickgzill 16y ago
It is an attempt to provide perspective. Silver has many industrial and high-tech uses; Facebook is basically MySpace 2.0.
- tptacek 16y ago
  The value of silver fluctuates. If you cornered the world's silver market, it would get a lot pricier. But right now, anyone who charged you for silver at some hypothetical Facebook-parity valuation would get their lunch eaten by everyone else who will sell you silver at its market price. Facebook, on the other hand, is not substitutable. There exists no comparable social network (with a comparable number of active users) from which you can buy targeted ads, or game users, or whatever other product Facebook launches down the road.
  - patrickgzill 16y ago
    The value of Facebook, Google, MSFT, GE, etc. also fluctuates (see stock charts) as well. Thus I am not exactly sure what your point is; I admitted I was offering only an alternate POV. "Facebook is not substitutable" - I am sure that 5 years ago some were saying the same about MySpace. In fact, they were! 60 seconds of searching found me: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061005/104155.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061005/104155.shtml (MySpace should have been valued at $20 Billion according to Brad Greenspan) http://www.itstheroi.com/search-engine-marketing/google-%E2%80%93-myspace-deal-a-huge-setback-for-community-sites/ http://www.itstheroi.com/search-engine-marketing/google-%E2%... (Google/MySpace deal to add $15 Billion to valuation of parent company News Corp.; deal is a huge setback to other sites) http://mashable.com/2006/09/27/myspace-worth-20-billion/ http://mashable.com/2006/09/27/myspace-worth-20-billion/ (RBC analyst evaluates MySpace) http://mashable.com/2006/07/11/myspace-americas-number-one/ http://mashable.com/2006/07/11/myspace-americas-number-one/ (MySpace has 80% of social network traffic, Facebook < 8% )
    - tptacek 16y ago
      Perhaps 5 years ago, MySpace was similarly difficult to substitute (I don't know). What I think I do know is that it would be riotously hard to bring a substitute for Facebook to the market. At its peak, MySpace had 1/6th the users Facebook had.
      - patrickgzill 16y ago

tptacek 16y ago

This point of view is not very helpful. Google's topline revenue last year --- for one year --- exceeds 3/4 of the value of all currently held silver. Does it sound silly that an Internet search engine is worth more (by a huge amount) than all that silver? It's hard to argue with cash flow. At $50bn, Facebook is valued at 1/4 of what the market currently values Google at. They currently do $2bn/yr in revenue, or ~6% of the world's silver, each year. The silver thing is an interesting benchmark, but you can't draw conclusions from it.

wglb 16y ago

Wow, that's . . . . not very useful. Why not nutmeg as a comparison? Or hydraulic fluid?

patrickgzill 16y ago
How much nutmeg or hydraulic fluid is kept in bank vaults and has served the purpose of "money" for thousands of years? Really, your comment is ... not very useful.

damoncali 16y ago

Remember that Goldman passed on this deal before allowing to to flow through to their clients. Says something, doesn't it?