Money and Finance
- Buffett's Latest Bargain: Berkshire Hathaway
For all the adulation he receives, Warren Buffett isn't getting credit where it arguably counts the most: his company's share price. Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares trade around $128,000 a share. While that's a big number, it's...
- Wcam: The Bubble Network: Deflating The Social Media Frenzy
In the Facebook movie, The Social Network, one of the original investors asks the question, “A million dollars isn’t cool, you know what’s cool? … A billion dollars.” Now, less than a decade after inception, Facebook is looking very cool indeed...
- The Stock Market Is A Giant Distraction
“The stock market is a giant distraction to the business of investing.” - Jack BogleEarlier this week, I was thinking back on my baseball card collecting days as a kid and how each month my neighborhood friends and I would get a copy of the Beckett...
- A Fresh Look At The Simple Formula
Earlier this week, a reader* of the blog had a look at the formula I laid out in "A Simple Formula for Investing Success" and cleverly suggested that the formula should be rearranged from: Investment + Good Company + Right Price +...
- Don't Let Mr. Market Be Your Coach
One of my high school basketball coaches was a real nightmare. Any mistake you made on the court -- an errant pass, a weakly-set screen, a poorly chosen shot -- quickly landed you a spot on the bench, followed by a rather loud commentary detailing exactly...
Money and Finance
Aswath Damodaran's Twitter Valuation
Having learned from the Facebook fiasco, I expect the bankers and the company to make the Twitter IPO a smoother offering. That process will of course start with the road show, where they will package the company like a shiny new present, and unwrap their “offering” price. I am sure that Goldman’s bankers, working on this deal, are a capable lot and will price the stock well, with just enough bounce to make those who receive a share of the initial offering feel special. As I watch the frenzy, I have to remind myself of two realities. The first is that there will be lots of distractions (like this one) during the IPO, most designed to take my eye of the ball. The second is that the bankers have their own agenda, and I cannot make the mistake of assuming that it matches mine. Watching out for my interests, here is how I see Twitter: at a $6 billion market cap ($10/share), I think it is a very good deal, at $10 billion ($17.5/share), I am indifferent to it, and at $20 billion ($35/share), it is a moon shot. Could I be wrong? Of course, but I would rather be transparently wrong (hence the long blog post detailing every assumption that I made) than opaquely right. I welcome disagreement (though I would much appreciate your phrasing it agreeably).
- Buffett's Latest Bargain: Berkshire Hathaway
For all the adulation he receives, Warren Buffett isn't getting credit where it arguably counts the most: his company's share price. Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares trade around $128,000 a share. While that's a big number, it's...
- Wcam: The Bubble Network: Deflating The Social Media Frenzy
In the Facebook movie, The Social Network, one of the original investors asks the question, “A million dollars isn’t cool, you know what’s cool? … A billion dollars.” Now, less than a decade after inception, Facebook is looking very cool indeed...
- The Stock Market Is A Giant Distraction
“The stock market is a giant distraction to the business of investing.” - Jack BogleEarlier this week, I was thinking back on my baseball card collecting days as a kid and how each month my neighborhood friends and I would get a copy of the Beckett...
- A Fresh Look At The Simple Formula
Earlier this week, a reader* of the blog had a look at the formula I laid out in "A Simple Formula for Investing Success" and cleverly suggested that the formula should be rearranged from: Investment + Good Company + Right Price +...
- Don't Let Mr. Market Be Your Coach
One of my high school basketball coaches was a real nightmare. Any mistake you made on the court -- an errant pass, a weakly-set screen, a poorly chosen shot -- quickly landed you a spot on the bench, followed by a rather loud commentary detailing exactly...