More evidence of huffing and puffing beneath Bubble 2.0, in the form of three hilariously troubling quotes.
Quote 1
First this one from “senior industry executives familiar with the matter,” as reported by Steve Rosenbush of BusinessWeek Online, about the proposed sale of Facebook:
Facebook, the Web site where students around the world socialize and swap information, has put itself on the block, BusinessWeek Online has learned. The owners of the privately held company have turned down a $750 million offer and hope to fetch as much as $2 billion in a sale.
One guy told Steve that Viacom, which owns the MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central cable networks, might be a good buyer for Facebook.
Hey Viacom, I have a 2001 Ford Expedition in good shape that I’ll sell you for $250,000. I’ve got some used power tools in the $15,000 range each. Call me. We can make a deal.
Quote 2
But the best quote from that article is this one:
[$2 Billion] may sound like a huge amount of money, especially when you consider that the company was launched just two years ago by a group of sophomores at Harvard University.
Ya think?
Quote 3
And the third and best quote of all comes from Russ Beattie in reaction to the above article:
I think my brain just blew up.
Mine too, Russ. And I’ll tell you what else is blowing up: Bubble 2.0, that’s what.
And a Sane Voice Says Calmly
Rafat Ali does his best to keep at least one of our collective toes in the pool of reality by pointing out:
[E]veryone, including Viacom, has looked at [Facebook] multiple times, parsed the valuation and options, and still could not think of a logical business reason for ponying up that kind of money. What I do know, from my sources, is that Facebook closed on a “huge round” of funding last week. So I would say the acquisition part is off the table, for now. [The] $2 billion figure is at best, hearsay, and at worst, media manipulation.
Newsome.Org 