Back in during the dotcom boom, there were multiple examples of companies being bought for ridiculous amounts. Often as the result of a bidding war. Even back

Back in during the dotcom boom, there were multiple examples of companies being bought for ridiculous amounts. Often as the result of a bidding war. Even back then, some economists used the "hidden wallet auction" as an example of how this could happen. To summarize: - there is a wallet - you don't know how much is in the wallet - you bid on amount to buy the wallet - if you get the highest bid you win - crucially, if you lose then you still have to pay This is often cited as a game that you do not want to play b/c it's a. hard to predict the upside, b. the downside is huge. That being said, people still got into these auctions and because of sunk cost fallacy, decided to keep bidding even if they might lose. The hyperscaler race feels a bit like the above but no one seems to ant to admit it.