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we'll be reading the same about Facebook in a couple of years? most probably.
by janlukacs 14y ago
we'll be reading the same about Facebook in a couple of years? most probably.
- scarmig 14y agoFacebook is bubbly, but there's a world of difference between having your value inflated by a bubble and what's effectively accounting fraud.
- ljlolel 14y agoGroupon is definitely worse than Facebook, but still, http://www.jperla.com/blog/post/facebook-is-a-ponzi-scheme http://www.jperla.com/blog/post/facebook-is-a-ponzi-scheme
- mikeash 14y agoSeems like any financial structure that isn't indefinitely sustainable gets described as a "Ponzi scheme" these days. What that post describes isn't a Ponzi scheme at all. The defining characteristic of such a thing is using the money from new investors to pay returns to old investors, thus making the investment appear legitimate. It's completely unrelated to Facebook advertising. Maybe their business model is unsustainable, but its nothing like a Ponzi scheme.
- fennecfoxen 14y agoI'm not even sure that their business model is unsustainable. The growth that would be necessary to justify their current valuation is probably unsustainable, mind you. But there's easily a good little business there. It just happens to not be worth 7 billion dollars :)
- mikeash 14y agoSame here. I was really skeptical of the claim that Facebook advertising isn't worth the money. I think it's far more likely that it is worth the money if you sell the right sort of thing, and this guy just moved in circles where people didn't sell things that advertised well on Facebook. However, the "Ponzi" thing stuck out at me much harder.