Goldman Sachs and Facebook

Here's one person's take on all the Facebook IPO hoopla.  (The greedy banks in paragraph three include Goldman Sachs):

Facebook Dashes Faith
By Al Lewis - The Wall Street Journal Blog

I overestimated the ordinarily reliable powers of greed and unbridled hyperbole.

When some people predicted Facebook stock would rocket up 50% on its initial public offering on Friday, I did not laugh. I had faith that the Facebook storyline would overcome:

A greedy move by investment bankers to jack up its offering price to $38 a share and expand the offering by 25%, just one day before the IPO, taking most of the juice out of the deal.

General Motors' announcement that it would no longer advertise on the social-networking site because its ads weren't effective.

Reports of all the billions Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would make dumping their shares on the public.

Silicon Valley punks unloading their shares to become obnoxious million- and billionaires.
Co-founder Eduardo Saverin's decision to defriend America, renouncing his U.S. citizenship and moving to Singapore to cut his tax bill.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's refusal to ditch his hoodie.

A tough stock market that continues to suffer a stalling recovery in the U.S. and a slow-motion meltdown in Europe, not to mention J.P. Morgan Chase behaving like MF Global with billions in largely unexplained trading losses.

The Nasdaq stock market, which appears to have bungled Facebook's opening by mismanaging order flow. (Next time, try the NYSE.)

I thought Facebook's IPO would overcome this folly because I was betting on America's often unwarranted optimism. I saw the IPO as a Rorschach test that people would read into whatever they wanted.

"It is one of the most interesting companies that ever existed," Duke University's Dan Ariely told me. "So there's the freedom to create any story you want."

How's this for a story? Nearly one out of every seven people on the planet is hooked into the social network, so it can basically do anything: Facebook will end all wars once everyone on the planet becomes "friends;" Facebook will replace fossil fuels since we never have to meet anyone in person anymore. 

Read the entire piece here