Is Facebook Worth $15 Billion?

Kara Swisher looks at Facebook’s holdout for a $15 billion valuation, as it decides which companies and investors to partner with. She finds the scale of these numbers to be laughable, and offers the following reasons why Facebook is not as big as it thinks it is:

  • Facebook is not Google
    Facebook’s revenue is not only puny compared to Google, but most of it comes from a guaranteed deal with Microsoft, which Kara believes Microsoft loses money on. 
  • Potential is not actual
    Many companies, MySpace being the most recent, have seen huge spikes in growth, only to see it quickly fade. 
  • Most techies were not popular in high school
    Facebook has the “it” factor within the tech community right now, so many are developing for it, and hyping it. Most likely, it can only keep this up for a limited period of time. 
  • A sucker is born every minute
    If a large company like Microsoft is considering further investment with Facebook – they have to be aware of the serious risk that is involved.

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