Picking tops and bottoms is for suckers, as is gaming takeovers. I have totally stopped gaming tops and bottoms, but still love gaming acquisitions.
A few days ago I started believing in a Microsoft/Facebook deal. I speculated $5-$7 billion.
Now blogs within Microsoft are starting to glob onto the rumors .
Seeing that this merger is now at hand, I will speculate further:
When this deal is announced and I think it will be announced MONDAY(assuming it is sunny in New York :) ), the answers to the huge market rally will be at hand. With the announcement will come a name change for the Zune. They will also change their stock ticker symbol (FBOOK or ZUCK) and move to the New York Stock Exchange. Zuckerberg will step into a role between Gates and Ballmer, Ballmer’s face will explode, he will quit and do a sitcom based on the life of James Cramer (they were roommates and do look alike).
The question is…will it mark the top, an acceleration or continuation of the bull?
PLEASE CHIME IN.
Update – I forgot to mention that the NERDS are all up in arms about the weak advertising click through rates on Facebook . Duh! As I have mentioned in the past , Facebook should take a page out of Brand Building 101 and ditch ads in favor of Facebook apparel, and merchandising like Water. Therefore, if not Microsoft, Coke should be buying Facebook. Love to hear some other suggestions on buyers.
Howard,
Certainly there is a bunch of chatter surrounding facebook and a possible takeover.
I think that despite this speculation the real question lies in where this leaves the company post-buyout or IPO.
In a buyout scenario I am curious how someone like MSFT would behave toward third party applications. Would they want all of these applications which have sparked the recent facebook frenzy.
More importantly the fb communities acceptance of a buyout is uncertain.
The appeal of facebook is that it is not governed by any rules imposed by OS platforms, albeit apple or microsoft. “Stick it to the man” mentality.
PS. With regard to your brand building comment. They should have facebook condoms (F Buddies). Sex sells. I’d rather buy facebook condoms than Trojans.
“Ballmer’s face will explode”
Don’t tease me.
I like the idea of amazon buying facebook, that way they can use fbook’s data to sell its junk.
I think if Facebook sells it has to be to MSFT. I don’t think Google is that interested in buying Facebook, especially in the 5-7B range. It’s a no brainer for MSFT (what else are they going to do with that $25B+ in cash?), and the deal may pay for itself in an upside move in the stock (as GOOG saw with the youtube buy). However if I were to place my bet, I would say Facebook will take its chances with an IPO (and stay out of the condom market). The markets are super hot, facebook buzz is high, and it’s the only place they could be valued above $8B at the moment (apparently what they think they are worth).
KO buys FACE? Or FBOOK or whatever.
Brilliant.
I like Amazon being thrown in the mix. Good one.