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.
Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
Interesting. I am fairly sure that most stocks are actually overhyped. This was probably the upper limit of the phenomenon.
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