Greed Is Good

The Facebook IPO has been a disaster thus far and not the savior many hoped. It’s interesting that the broad market never caught Facebook fever as the market has sold off for almost two straight weeks. Instead it was the media that jumped on this bandwagon and maybe it could still, (partly), live up to the hype. No matter how the stock finishes today it has to be pointed out that for all the grief Wall Street takes, the boys in Silicon Valley are no different --except they get to play it both ways. They have the same insatiable greed as Wall Street but wearing hoodies and sneakers gives them that “ordinary people” look and reputation.

But while they talk about helping society and doing no harm, the techies want every last crumb on the table. Take this Facebook deal and consider: if they really only cared about how to help society, then they would have priced the IPO at $30. They would have acknowledged they could get more but wanted average people to get it at a reasonable price. The stock would have “popped” and there might have been an infectious enthusiasm that spread beyond the stock market. I have no problem with being greedy as long as you own it. I do have a problem with greedy and phony, and all the free passes that come with selective outrage.

Steve Jobs was a pure capitalist, Bill Gates is a pure capitalist and Mark Zuckerberg is a pure capitalist. I wish they would wear it with pride like an overpriced hooded sweater.