cbs.marketwatch.com
Half of this CBS Marketwatch story was written using posts from this thread! Free content for CBS! Maybe time to stop posting!
PS George what's so strange about your motivation or plan? Aren't we all trying to come up with the next hot IPO? Heck, I'll even take a couple of million to start.
Seriously though, I think you've identified an important economic phenomenon. With enough venture capital you can get as far as an IPO, and have the public pony up dollars and lots of them. But then you turn around and leverage your brand and inflated stock value to snap up legitimate businesses. To wit, Ebay, Netscape, bid.com, and just about any 'Net company that wound up with inflated stock, tons of cash, and used it as currency to keep things rolling. Not saying these are bad companies (bid.com is, but the others aren't), just that it is amazing that a company like Ebay can buy a major old-economy auction house for pocket change. That "shouldn't happen"... but it does.
The only snag is venture capitalists won't be too happy to fund bad ideas. Therefore, their largesse largely rests on the possibilities inherent in the hot stock market, from which insiders can make the big payoff.
Mr. Greenspan, don't screw it up.
One to watch for may be Google: $25 mil in venture capital for a search engine! I'm sure they'll take it public and it'll get received initially like ASKJ. I am quite sure I know which side of that transaction I'd like to be on -- I'd rather be selling Google stock at inflated prices than buying it. ASKJ is HIGH RISK! You'd be nuts to gamble on this one IMO. |
