RE: Are we to believe these companies are worth more than 50% of what they were worth just a few years ago?
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To get a perspective of how screwed up things are now, consider this — FACEBOOK recently bought a smartphone messaging company named WhatsApp ( which has lots of competitors worldwide ) for $19 Billion !!
just look at several companies that are valued at less than what Facebook is offering for WhatsApp. They are household names: Campbell Soup, Harley-Davidson and ConAgra Foods.
WhatsApp has only 55 employees. Conagra has 26,000 and has a market cap (at $14 Billion) LESS THAN WhatsApp. Campbell Soup has nearly 18,000 employees and has a market cap (also at about $14 Billion ) LESS than WhatsApp.
Does anyone in his right mind even believe that this is value for money?
It's 1999 all over again.
Excellent observation. Stocks are nothing more than trading baseball cards. Popularity wins, not technical financials.
No longer can the health and wealth of a company be observed through its stock price.
Facebook isn’t paying for anything. The government is simply taking over Whatsapp so they can track more people.