Live data from Hacker News

Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

mashable.com

31–39 of 39 posts

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#31
post #30

They said the valuation of Twitter doubled from last year to this.... does anyone know if the shares in SecondMarket increased by the same % as well? If not.. then why not? They don't want "normal people" to get rich? Just the insiders?

Investors pay a premium for liquidation preference.

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#32
post #30

They said the valuation of Twitter doubled from last year to this.... does anyone know if the shares in SecondMarket increased by the same % as well? If not.. then why not? They don't want "normal people" to get rich? Just the insiders?

That's roughly how it's meant to work pre-IPO. Until they're a public company they're only supposed to care about the investors they chose ("the insiders").

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they don't need to? You know, if you could get 800M$ who cares about revenue? They are getting money while they can before the bubble burst, the early investors are getting money selling to a greater fool and the greater fool are putting money over the table betting someone else will be even bigger fool. Facebook is profitable but "not that profitable", they need to be much much more profitable at the current…

"This time is different" because people have learned a lot from the first bubble. For the most part, investors are people who really understand the economics of technology, the economics of the deal and the mistakes of the past. I think there is a long way to go before any major burst. Granted with the amount of hype in the market and massive over-subscriptions (i.e. greed) there's bound to be a correction at some po…

The only reason it won't be as bad is because not that many people are employed by these companies this time.

Most people are already out of work or under-employed.

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#34
post #7

how sick is this? A company that had already raised north of 300 million and had never even made half as much in revenue gets... another 800 million? what for? how ridiculous is this?

What's even more ridiculous is that they did it even though there is now a competitor with a better product. Yes they have a much larger installed base but I do believe G+'s non 140 char limit and other amenities will win out.

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#35
post #26

$8B is still in the acquisition range. Google was ready to pay $6B for Groupon. The next round (if ever) will make twitter un-acquirable. IPO, lower valuation or die.

well to be fair Groupon was actually generating cash...Twitter generates god knows what

Don't be so harsh. Without Twitter, there'd be no http://backupmytweets.com

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This time is different" because people have learned a lot from the first bubble. For the most part, investors are people who really understand the economics of technology, the economics of the deal and the mistakes of the past. I think there is a long way to go before any major burst. Granted with the amount of hype in the market and massive over-subscriptions (i.e. greed) there's bound to be a correction at some po…

The only reason it won't be as bad is because not that many people are employed by these companies this time. Most people are already out of work or under-employed.

That's not true. My understanding was that the dot-com bubble was primarily a result of naive investment in technology. My point was that investors today are way more sophisticated when it comes to tech, therefore, they won't be blindly betting on every internet or mobile company. Venture Hack's Naval Ravikant describes the bifurcation of the funding situation in technology, where there is a long-tail of companies investors don't view as remarkable and so don't invest. Remember, those dot-bombs were pretty much worthless from the start in terms of the value they provided, and they had enormous nonsensical valuations. There was no such thing as determining product-market fit or customer development before product development, or even a blogosphere of information related to this kind of investment. Both investors and entrepreneurs are more prepared and more knowledgable today than they were in 1999. So I don't think the same kind of devastating burst is very likely.

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#37
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ok, but do they really need 800 million (or 400 million) to turn backtype and other companies and/or ideas into a working business?

I think they do need this amount of money in order to stay competitive with the big guys Google and Facebook. They could be more easily outbid in acquisitions if they weren't competitive with capital.

Yes but, unlike Google and Facebook, they're not a real company. They're a start-up on VC welfare.

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason it won't be as bad is because not that many people are employed by these companies this time. Most people are already out of work or under-employed.

That's not true. My understanding was that the dot-com bubble was primarily a result of naive investment in technology. My point was that investors today are way more sophisticated when it comes to tech, therefore, they won't be blindly betting on every internet or mobile company. Venture Hack's Naval Ravikant describes the bifurcation of the funding situation in technology, where there is a long-tail of companies in…

I disagree. There were quite a few dot-coms that could have been successful had they IPO'ed before the crash, and additional dot-coms that should have never been acquired, yet because of such an acquisition, allowed the ownership of the Dallas Mavericks.

The burst will not be as devastating simply because not as many people are directly involved.

I am still using eBay and Amazon, and even Yahoo is still around (which acquired Viaweb).

Do you honestly think Twitter is worth $8 billion dollars without a business model?

Please, read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Exit-Strategy-Douglas-Rushkoff/dp/1887...

Re: Twitter Closing $800M Funding Round at $8 Billion Valuation

#39
post #18
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Twitter is innovative, while Facebook is just f'in huge?

That's ridiculous. Facebook is incredibly innovative as well, even more-so than Twitter. They're solving huge scalability problems that nobody else has encountered before.

Facebook as a product to monetize is not innovative. It's a website serving targeted ads.

Twitter is a new kind of messaging service. How to monetize that is not so clear.

Post reply on HN