Friday, May 25, 2012

Facebook vs. General Motors

Heard a local talk show dude discussing this on the radio today. Googled it when I got home. Interesting...
Facebook’s IPO launched at $38 a share, and the stock is now trading at $32, and the company and its bankers stand accused of having “hyped up” the stock.**  There are lawsuits and hearings.

GM’s post-bailout IPO launched at $33 a share, and the stock is now trading at $22, after being repeatedly touted by the highest officials  of the U.S. government. Yet the suckers investors who bought it aren’t having a cow. …

(** I understand there is a specific complaint that material info about Facebook’s earnings was disclosed only to selected big investors. But there is also an underlying anger that Facebook’s stock has dropped so far. GM has dropped more.)
BTW, just a few days before the Facebook IPO GM pulled its advertising from Facebook.
General Motors (GM) really knows how to time an exit.

The automaker has announced that it will no longer advertise on Facebook, just days before the social networking giant is set to go public.
Coincidence...? I think not.
GM isn't giving up on Facebook as a promotional platform. It will continue to milk the social-viral nature of the website, reaching out to visitors of its official fan pages and those who have GM and its cars in their Facebook news feeds.

It makes sense. Why buy the cow when you can milk it virtually for free? However, Facebook isn't going to look too kindly at this practice if more large corporate customers follow suit.
In any event, GM's announcement should have given pause to potential Facebook investors. But they were so caught up in the social media giant's hype that hope overruled common sense.

Gee, where have I heard that before...?




3 comments:

Pascvaks said...

Over priced? Yes!

Over sold? Yes!

Over hyped? Yes!

Over valued? No!

Value, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

PS: Beware of bums of all stripes (and surnames) making promises they can't and never intended to keep, especially the one with his finger on The Button, and his foot on your throat, directing his fellow traders to put you in shackels and take you to the coast. Free men must first be fooled into capture before they can be sold.

Old NFO said...

I wouldn't buy ANYTHING selling at 77 X earnings, that is just stupid... And yeah, where's the uproar over GM? Oh... guess the government can't investigate itself!

CenTexTim said...

Pascvaks - Market value = reality, no matter what flaks and politicians say.

NFO - "I wouldn't buy ANYTHING selling at 77 X earnings, that is just stupid..."

In Vegas that's known as betting on the come ... aka as a sucker play.