Thursday, February 2, 2012

What We Can Gain (And Lose) By Facebook's IPO

According to some reports, there is a lot for us to lose and one nifty thing to gain by Facebook going public.  CNET's Molly Wood literally begs people not to buy stock.  She explains very carefully how it works, and how it isn't a bad thing but the common folks won't stand to make much.  The first investors will snap up the choice price, and we will be left generating profit for the beast.  The only thing that might change her predicted outcome is if Facebook explodes into a new level of service, for example if they grew a Google-like appendage and brought in millions of new users.  As she also points out, it will be a long time before stock can be purchased, so there is time to watch this develop.  Just don't let hype override common sense.

However, if they go public there is an outstanding chance they will have to disclose more information, including privacy investigations.  Because the interested parties have listed their facts, we know some of what has gone on behind closed doors.  While Wired reminds us there are no guarantees, there will likely be more for us to know about Facebook and its processes.

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