Google & the Dot-Bomb Era

In the business news today, Google stock dropped almost 19% in value… Over the past six months, I’ve had a few of my friends ask my opinion on investing in Google.  I told them that it’s important to note that Google is not really a software or Internet company, but it is a media company (most of its revenues come from advertising).  In many ways, it is the Bell Yellow Pages from eighty years ago.  The stock value already has the expectation of tremendous upside built into the price… similar in many ways to the market exuberance for other Internet-based business models from six years ago, such as Webvan (groceries), MetalSite (steel), and Calico (software) [note: all 3 of these companies are out of business after raising over $300 million in capital].