5 ms·

If I owned Facebook stock, I would disclose that. Since I can't own it yet, but probably will after the IPO, I figured it would be worth disclosing.

by dcurtis 14y ago

joelhaasnoot 14y ago
This way though it could come off as a pitch for readers to go and buy Facebook stock/stock advice.
- rorrr 14y ago
  How is it a pitch to buy? If anything, it's a pitch NOT to buy. $1 billion/quarter revenue (and $210M profits) doesn't justify the $100 billion valuation. Not even close. Consider Google, valued at $200B has a revenue of $10.6 billion/quarter, and $2890M in profits. Also, GOOG has been consistently growing: http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GOOG&fstype=ii http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GOOG&fstype=ii While Facebook is failing to. So what is the realistic value of FB? Based on these numbers, $15 billion at best.
  - joelhaasnoot 14y ago
    Sure, the article in itself may speak to not buy looking at the figures, I was meaning the specific sentence.
  - fear91 14y ago
    People forget that Facebook still can be Google killer. They can reveal a better search (since their search function is used more than the Google's one). Even easier task for them would be creating an ad content network similiar to AdSense since they can provide way more information about a visitor than Google's tracking. This is precisely why Larry Page tries to shove Google plus into everyones throat.
    - jsprinkles 14y ago
      > They can reveal a better search (since their search function is used more than the Google's one). [citation required]
    - denniedarko 14y ago
      Their search function is used more than Google's? How do you possibly arrive at that conclusion? The only instance where I would possibly use Facebook's search function is if I'm typing in the name of one of my friends. On the other hand, the main reason I use Google, and do so many times every day, is for the search functionality.
      - Rhubox 14y ago
        Facebook Search is surely the most widely used function of the website. I myself have facebook set to be my homepage, therefore it's handier to just type anything I want in there - rather than having to visit google first.
        henrikschroder 14y ago
        What? How? I'm genuinely curious now. When you search on Facebook you only get results that are Facebook pages. You can't get Wikipedia entries, Stack Overflow questions, other companies' websites, programming language documentation, or anything that's the usual results of what I search for on Google. What do you generally search for, and how can Facebook serve you relevant hits?
        abhaga 14y ago
        > When you search on Facebook you only get results that are Facebook pages. Actually, you can get web search results on Facebook through Bing. It is one of the side tabs on the search page. But I can't imagine many people doing that.
        denniedarko 14y ago
  - pwaring 14y ago
    I don't think anyone would seriously buy based on the current figures. If you buy Facebook today, you're hoping for exponential growth over the next few years, at which point you can either sell at a profit or take dividends (if Facebook ever pay them - US technology companies don't tend to pay out much). If you want a return now, you could just buy shares in a utility company for a fraction of the price, since they already make multi-billion pound/dollar profits and distribute large chunks to shareholders.

If I owned Facebook stock, I would disclose that. Since I can't own it yet, but probably will after the IPO, I figured it would be worth disclosing.

by dcurtis 14y ago

If I owned Facebook stock, I would disclose that. Since I can't own it yet, but probably will after the IPO, I figured it would be worth disclosing.

joelhaasnoot 14y ago

This way though it could come off as a pitch for readers to go and buy Facebook stock/stock advice.

rorrr 14y ago
How is it a pitch to buy? If anything, it's a pitch NOT to buy. $1 billion/quarter revenue (and $210M profits) doesn't justify the $100 billion valuation. Not even close. Consider Google, valued at $200B has a revenue of $10.6 billion/quarter, and $2890M in profits. Also, GOOG has been consistently growing: http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GOOG&fstype=ii http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GOOG&fstype=ii While Facebook is failing to. So what is the realistic value of FB? Based on these numbers, $15 billion at best.
- joelhaasnoot 14y ago
  Sure, the article in itself may speak to not buy looking at the figures, I was meaning the specific sentence.
- fear91 14y ago
  People forget that Facebook still can be Google killer. They can reveal a better search (since their search function is used more than the Google's one). Even easier task for them would be creating an ad content network similiar to AdSense since they can provide way more information about a visitor than Google's tracking. This is precisely why Larry Page tries to shove Google plus into everyones throat.
  - jsprinkles 14y ago
    > They can reveal a better search (since their search function is used more than the Google's one). [citation required]
  - denniedarko 14y ago
    Their search function is used more than Google's? How do you possibly arrive at that conclusion? The only instance where I would possibly use Facebook's search function is if I'm typing in the name of one of my friends. On the other hand, the main reason I use Google, and do so many times every day, is for the search functionality.
    - Rhubox 14y ago
      Facebook Search is surely the most widely used function of the website. I myself have facebook set to be my homepage, therefore it's handier to just type anything I want in there - rather than having to visit google first.
      - henrikschroder 14y ago
        What? How? I'm genuinely curious now. When you search on Facebook you only get results that are Facebook pages. You can't get Wikipedia entries, Stack Overflow questions, other companies' websites, programming language documentation, or anything that's the usual results of what I search for on Google. What do you generally search for, and how can Facebook serve you relevant hits?
        abhaga 14y ago
        > When you search on Facebook you only get results that are Facebook pages. Actually, you can get web search results on Facebook through Bing. It is one of the side tabs on the search page. But I can't imagine many people doing that.
        denniedarko 14y ago
- pwaring 14y ago
  I don't think anyone would seriously buy based on the current figures. If you buy Facebook today, you're hoping for exponential growth over the next few years, at which point you can either sell at a profit or take dividends (if Facebook ever pay them - US technology companies don't tend to pay out much). If you want a return now, you could just buy shares in a utility company for a fraction of the price, since they already make multi-billion pound/dollar profits and distribute large chunks to shareholders.