Google to pay $3.2 bio for a company with revenues of.....$15 mio

Another sign of how unhinged the market for technology companies has become is this transaction where Google agrees to pay an absurd multiple for a tech start-up. Apart from the question whether or not this decision is commercially sensible (not even mentioning the privacy problems it might create) it also raises the issue of how much control shareholders should have over any sizable spending on acquisitions. That our pension systems are supposed to rely on a sort of ponzi-finance that equity markets have become (and an engine for wealth generation that is benefiting above all the 0.001 percent) is another prickly issue for politicians and regulators. Buying 'assets' at astronomical multiples is certainly not the right way for any pension system to match its liabilities to ordinary people.
(14-Jan-2014)