The Q&A series is where we ask influencers and friends of ZURB for their opinions on hot recent news. This week we were curious about people's take on the recent Facebook news so we asked the following people this question below.
Question: Would you buy Facebook stock if you had the option to right now?
Duff McDonald published a controversial article stating five reasons of why he would not buy Facebook stock. Duff talks about how Facebook's $50 billion valuation number is inflated, how most of us are in the dark about their stats and numbers, and how it's tough to justify a $50 billion market capitalization through banner ads. We are curious - would you buy Facebook stock?
I'm generally on the side of Warren Buffet (and common sense) in these matters. When everyone else is excited about Facebook it's a great time to sell; when they're down in the opinion polls, it will likely be a good time to invest. They are certainly an exciting company and they make an incredibly popular, world-changing product. The issue with buying their stock, however, is not whether these facts are true, but whether the market believes them to be even more exciting than they really are. To my mind, that's almost certainly the case.
-Rand Fishkin, CEO at SEOmoz
Depending on the amount of money we're talking, absolutely. For one thing, I'm a huge proponent of the social web, and Facebook clearly has a handle on that. With what they've done with Facebook Connect and establishing reusable identities on the web (and someday the real world), I think they're one of the earliest successful "data capitalists". And that, to my thinking, is worth being an investor in.
-Chris Messina, Open Web Advocate at Google
Well, I'm continuing to hold the stock I own, so I guess that's pretty close to a yes. Looking at current numbers is not a very useful way of evaluating something like Facebook. They own one of the most valuable assets in the world, and have no real competitors, so I continue to believe that they are quite valuable.
-Paul Buchheit, Gmail Creator, Founder at FriendFeed
Me? I'd buy Facebook stock in a minute. Why? Mostly to say I bought it, but I think it'll be the most successful IPO in history.
-Robert Scoble, Tech Blogger & Managing Director at RackspaceWhat is your take? Leave your answer in the comments.
