(FB) officially becomes a public company today. Shares are just hours away from debuting on the Nasdaq. The social media king made history becoming the largest U.S. internet IPO ever. Yesterday afternoon the company sold 421.2 million shares priced at $38 each, giving the company a $104 billion valuation.
More important than today’s event, is how transitions then evolves as a public company. Five years ago, valuing above $100B would seem absurd. Remember 2006? Yahoo (YHOO) almost scooped up the company for a mere $1 billion. One tech-savvy, deep-thinker was way ahead of the curve on calling for ‘s rise above $100B: James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital.
“I really think is like a microcosm of the entire Internet. It’s not just a website… If they were to just sit on their hands and go public, I think you could start seeing Google-like numbers in the revenues, in the EBITDA, and in the valuation. So if Google is at a $150 billion market cap, eventually is going to hit that if it were to go public and stay through it the long haul.”
-James Altucher on CNBC, July 25, 2007
Not a bad vision to have five years ago. Of course, seeing clearly in hindsight does nothing to make you money. On a day when every investor is at least entertaining the idea of buying FB shares, Breakout invited Altucher on to discuss what the next five years hold for .
“I think five years from now, and it’s hard to predict 2017, but let’s say they have $10 billion in earnings, it’s not unreasonable for them [] to have a $300 billion market cap,” he predicts.
