> Well unless they pay no dividend, have dual-class share structure, and IPO without a profitable quarter. What’s a share of SNAP entitle you to exactly? Ah right, you think someone will buy it for more.
I think the idea would be like what happened to Apple: they eventually grew so much, became so successful, accumulated huge piles of cash bigger than they could possibly spend, that they had to start paying a dividend.
And there is a difference between a company with an inherently unprofitable business model, and a company that would be profitable if they didn't spend so much on growth. Admittedly, it is pretty hard to distinguish those sometimes, especially with the endless rounds of Series D, E, F, G, H, I, etc funding some startups are getting.
That is all speculative, but it's not unproductive beanie babie trading. It is pretty close, especially when the only rationalisation I can think of involves Apple paying dividends, which they didn't do for decades, and Facebook and Google still don't.
Even tulip selling is actually a real business, the tulip mania wasn't as bad as crypto from the "real value" perspective, I think.