Apple’s market cap is currently $119 Billion, at the beginning of the year it was around $175 Billion.
Google’s market cap is currently $158 Billion.
The economy looks fragile: housing is a bust and banks have hemorrhaged cash, insurance companies are teetering, employment looks dubious, gas prices are high and consumer confidence weakening.
But in SF and Silicon Valley people are partying like its 1999, because VC money is buying the drinks again. Should they be?
You would think that tech stocks would do well in this market, of cheap exports and Web 2.0 hype, but the reality is quite the opposite.
Amongst the best performing stocks this year, are Walmart and General Motors . Among the worst are tech stocks like Apple.
Even with all the infrastructure requirements of gazillions of video ‘bits’ flying around the Internet, Akamai and Cisco are lackluster.
But the biggest worry of them all is that Google, the company that looked like it would become bigger than Standard Oil (and it still could be) and which sits right at the top of the Web 2.0 food chain, has lost a third of its value in a few months.
To put it in perspective, Google, the company that for many people IS the Internet economy is worth less than a computer manufacturer, Apple, with less than 10% market share, was worth a month ago.
It may recover quickly, but only after confidence in funding Internet startups has waned, in which case the alcohol fueled, party phase of Web 2.0 will be over and many companies will be running on fumes.