Friday, May 18, 2012

The Facebook IPO

Is Facebook another AOL or Yahoo? Or will it be another Microsoft or Google? Obviously most investors are hedging their bets on the latter. I am going to be a wimp and sit on the fence on this one. What I can say is that I really did scratch my head when AOL bought Time/Warner. It just made no sense that a glorified ISP with contact that you could anywhere by surfing the internet, could buy a seriously established outfit like Time/Warner. As it turned out I had every right to scratch my head. Facebook certainly needs to become a lot more than a social network with advertising. Maybe it will expand to the enterprise via its social network and its large user base, much like google did with its search engine. Microsoft"s entry point to the enterprise was its home PC operating system which they managed to monopolize. But I also can't deny that I am scratching my head how a social networking website could have the third biggest ever IPO in history behind GM and Visa. On the other hand Zuckerberg is a bona fide wunderkind like Gates and Jobs there just may be no stopping him. The next few years will be very interesting.

No comments: