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The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

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Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#11

Post by rospaya »

16s wrote: post #10
dantheman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I barely use facebook and it's more important to me than BMW or Nokia, and AIG should be out of business (but that's another argument). I assume facebook is more important to most people than BMW or Nokia, and though the value may be less per person it could be easily be more in aggregate.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

You are presuming the stock market is somehow fair.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#12

Post by lbrandy »

16s wrote: post #10
dantheman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I barely use facebook and it's more important to me than BMW or Nokia, and AIG should be out of business (but that's another argument). I assume facebook is more important to most people than BMW or Nokia, and though the value may be less per person it could be easily be more in aggregate.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a search website, and I would definitely be wrong.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#13

Post by 16s »

rospaya wrote: post #11
16s wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

You are presuming the stock market is somehow fair.

Yes, you are right. I was confused. BMW engines deliver pigs to markets so people can eat. One can buy and sell virtual pigs on FaceBook by playing Farmville.

To me, actual bacon is more valuable than pretend bacon.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#14

Post by muhfuhkuh »

16s wrote: post #10
dantheman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? I barely use facebook and it's more important to me than BMW or Nokia, and AIG should be out of business (but that's another argument). I assume facebook is more important to most people than BMW or Nokia, and though the value may be less per person it could be easily be more in aggregate.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

Isn't that simply debasing the value of all internet and software technology companies, then? None of them are older than BMW, and none of them make engineered steel products. Yet, I'm very sure that more people use Facebook and, say, Windows, than own a BMW.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#15

Post by robryan »

rospaya wrote: post #11
16s wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

You are presuming the stock market is somehow fair.

Still it's hard to say that a company that makes well under a dollar a user is worth more than someone with a profit margin of many thousands on each sale. That said though a lot of the companies I know on this list will probably face game changes in their industries soon.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#16

Post by xenophanes »

sdizdar wrote: post #9

Market cap / valuation comparison is only meaningful if you compare companies in the same industry. For example, priceline.com has market cap of about $21B. In that respect, facebook valuation is not so high.

Umm, no. Exactly the opposite. If the market caps in one industry were wrongly valued relative to another, then investment would move (b/c there would be opportunity for arbitrage and profit).

Why did you think the economy was divided into separate and unrelated sections?

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#17

Post by ijuhyftgreduy »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #14
16s wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think that hundreds of years of engineering (mechanical and electrical) and solid products used all across the globe would be more valuable than a social website, but maybe I'm wrong.

Isn't that simply debasing the value of all internet and software technology companies, then? None of them are older than BMW, and none of them make engineered steel products. Yet, I'm very sure that more people use Facebook and, say, Windows, than own a BMW.

But the people that use facebook pay facebook $0

The people that use BMW pay BMW $50,000

Lose money on every customer but make up for it in volume is not a sustainable business model

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#18

Post by americandesi333 »

One of the major component of stock valuation is the expected growth of the company, which somewhat accounted for market and internal 'risk'. However, I would argue that in Facebook's case the risk is higher than what is used for this valuation. Therefore, I do not see Facebook being worth more then say Target.

Re: The Companies Worth Less Than Facebook

#20

Post by fleitz »

noelchurchill wrote: post #3

I wonder what the Fortune 500 would look like if people were to guess at which companies were more valuable than others.

That's pretty much what the stock market is and also the Fortune 500. It's all people guessing as to the future guesses of what a company is worth.
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