You're watching...
David Weidner, MarketWatch columnist, gives his take on Facebook's IPO and the setbacks that may come with the company's mega-success.
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advance
This transcript is automatically generated
Basement is facing some growing pains as -- company prepares to go public later on this year investors are questioning everything from already its board diversity to future revenues joining me now asking at widener MarketWatch columnist David.
I read a great piece that you wrote on FaceBook going public and the hardship -- the troubles it may face in that transition.
A great and I get that I pulled out of that was the you believe that the success of FaceBook comments at a cost.
As it cost to worker productivity you know it still banned in much of of corporate America has so.
Ten me really justify all behind when it's not necessarily good thing that it so successful.
Well you nursebot need to weigh that people have sort of embraced FaceBook or -- charged up by this IPO and -- by by this company.
It's sort of this signal that him you know this is where American capitalism is going -- for century.
This is this is the best and the brightest this Harvard grad Mark Zuckerberg has come forward with this.
Great idea to Canada and a success story our but -- -- and that's true to some degree I mean absolutely FaceBook is is is very successful company -- probably be pretty good investment.
But.
There's a flip side to -- -- and that is FaceBook is really part of -- I think becoming what we're seeing this part of Silicon Valley is producing this diversion industry.
You know Angry Birds games your radar outages -- kind of how to allergy you know home -- world tweeting all the time what exactly -- exactly during our workforce.
And FaceBook as you mentioned of course being blocked.
-- -- more corporations -- hand -- 14% corporation blocking outside rate so.
And I think the numbers work out too if you have a thousand employees you're gonna lose ten million dollars a year in productivity.
And I would argue that even just going to the water cooler and talking with your colleagues as much more productive than sitting there and sharing pictures of -- -- I'm gonna -- in professions like ours you can say it's part of sort of networking building a brand -- and building an audience and you know maybe you workers but instead are channeling their efforts to FaceBook lending may have not been working anywhere may anyways may be there would be online shopping or doing something else so it's.
I mean doesn't necessarily mean them they're losing that productivity but there has been a lot of hype about this company that this year the best and the brightest in Silicon Valley.
And it's creating new a new industry do you really think that that's the case that -- you're gonna -- now this new.
Industry trade around social media and connecting around friends that we haven't seen since that -- since the birth of the Internet.
Well I I think we are haven't -- have that industry sort of it's it's a large part of what Silicon Valley does right now.
But what are what do what kind of bothers me about the FaceBook IPO.
Is it well first of -- it is some of the financials of the company -- and its expectations and its growth rates and you know you can see.
This company toll cooks the books and people are still gonna buy it.
But you know if it's it's that it -- so many of the other great success stories out of Silicon Valley and -- read about a few today just the Biotech companies that are coming up with these fantastic new.
Treatments and they have FDA approval they are profitable.
Companies that are the -- that are doing outsourcing our.
What I mean it's -- consulting.
Chief technology firms.
-- even something as simple -- like Spirit Airlines which is.
In airline which is up the stock is up more than 50%.
And they just doing it better to just they figured out something that the other airlines haven't figured out.
And with an IPO like that you probably could hear yours hands on shares of those companies as opposed at FaceBook which we know.
None of the general public's gonna be able to tap into.
There's lots of other success stories coming out in the I -- IPO markets in the technology world it's not all students not all about FaceBook.
Some perspective on my part that -- -- -- -- I -- -- tweeting that out as soon as we were atop its commitment I think anything you.
