According to a recent Bloomberg Global Poll of investors, 69% say that Facebook is overvalued. This comes after the recent news of Goldman Sachs' (NYSE: GS) recent estimate of the social-networking site. Goldman has also invested $450 million in the company. According to a recent report, the poll consisted of 1,000 Bloomberg customers who are investors, traders, or analysts. Only 10% say that Facebook's valuation is fair and 4% say it is actually worth more.
The recent poll raises concerns that there may be a bubble forming in the technology sector, especially as social-media companies like LinkedIn, Groupon, and Facebook begin to file or contemplate filing for IPOs this year. Overall, the poll showed that investors disagree with Goldman's valuation of Facebook. The valuation makes Facebook worth more than Yahoo! and eBay (Nasdaq EBAY). And the rise of Facebook's popularity should make people think twice about their opinion, as Facebook is now the third most visited website in the world.
Can Facebook be the next Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)? If so, Facebook does have some big shoes to fill. When Google went public, shares tripled in the first year to $279.99 from $85, according to John Lee, a portfolio manager at PGB Trust & Investments in Morristown, N.J. Google and Facebook share similar business models as well as long-term goals.
Google's website is basically a gateway to the rest of the world. It allows communication with others as well as providing arguably the most efficient and effective search engine in the market. Google has recently expanded its horizons in the operating system and mobile platform universe and has proved to be increasingly successful. Google now hopes to rival Facebook in the social-networking space. As of now, Facebook has seen little competition, as News Corp's (Nasdaq: NWS) MySpace has faded. Currently, Facebook and Google compete heavily for advertising, since Facebook generates much of its revenue through advertisements.
Still, Facebook has a long road ahead to be as big as Google. It faces headwinds like continuously changing privacy issues and minimal financial information for analysts to track its actual value. On the contrary, the fact that the world is going digital and that e-commerce is still booming bodes well for the social networking giant. Facebook has more than 500 million members and is always adding more. Facebook is always coming up with ways to attract more members through innovation as well as ways to generate revenue, so expect Facebook to put up a fight against Google in its quest for internet domination.
