I have mostly commented in earlier blogs about how the silly people of the planet have magnetically attached themselves to the latest fad called Facebook. To the point that the American media had nothing else to yammer pre IPO this morning. Every channel that thought themselves to be a reliable news provider blabbed about the next big thing - the hoodie clad CEO ringing the bell over the heads of clueless citizenry about to take his company public.
Then came the moment of truth. The big Initial Stock Offering to the devotees. Many in the stock trading world including big institutions and retail customers lined up to trade. All hoped that the stock will rocket. Far from it. What happened was amazing. Not because the stock did not do anything but percisely because it did not. It basically flattened out at the initial list price.
Now one day does not a story make but I am surely hoping that people actually saw what a joke the whole valuation business is and specifically how a college drop out initiated business to score a date with a chick could never be valued over a $100B.
That said the underwriters tried to save face and supported the offer price apparently by buying all sales. Market functions only when there is a buyer to every seller. This too amazing to be true story got told. There seems to be sanity in the market somewhere.
On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Interesting. I am fairly sure that most stocks are actually overhyped. This was probably the upper limit of the phenomenon.
ReplyDelete