Tech Bubble Likely to Burst
For greater part of the year, apprehension has been mounting that the second tech bubble is likely to burst. Contrasting from the dotcom bust of 1999 as well as 2000, that had been generated due to the unexpected downfall of companies on the stock market, the second coming has been established on the eye of valuation which the latest generation of tech companies had organised in achieving through private fund-raisings.
Scores of business all over the world have attained the so-called `unicorn’ status, an estimate of over $1bn. Overall, it is reaching 200 universally which have succeeded this mythical tag. Some of them seemed to be `mega-unicorns’ companies that have exceeded the $10bn target though a handful of superstars have hit the extraordinary levels.
Uber the taxi app is presently worth over $60bn while Airbnb, the favourite of the sharing economy has raised funds valued at $30bn. Meaningless estimates of young companies some of which make no money and you have the makings of a bubble which will certainly have to burst at some point of time with catastrophic consequences for global markets. Indications have been there for some time. Confidence in private market has taken a blow with a drop in funding rounds for start-ups.
Fidelity – Instigated Panic
A high profile tech investor, Fidelity had instigated panic when it had dropped the evaluation on dozen investments. On the other hand, some start-ups comprising of Uber had been compelled to go overseas in raising funds at higher assessments where the assessments of several big tech companies already on the stock market had collapsed.
However, in spite of the anxieties, the bubble is likely to be pumped with more hot air due to another burst of vastly over-priced floats. One of the most high profile is Snapchat which is a company that several people of a particular age would possibly not have heard it but has instantly become the social network of choice among millennial who tend to utilise the same in sharing photos, video drawings and texts.
Launched only five years back by three ex-Stanford University students, the same has been amazing. Snapchat tends to generate sales of only £300m each year, in spite of being utilised by 150m users each day and is uneconomic due to its free services.
Bubble – Low Interest Rate Environment
But these matters seem to be of no concern to the experts of Silicon Valley and Wall Street who tend to value the app at $25bn. However, it could prove to be the next Apple or Facebook and many are of the opinion though the same has been said regarding Twitter, Groupon as well as LinkedIn which tend to be over-hyped.
Snapchat will probably be followed by other hot tech firms comprising of Pinterest, Dropbox and SpotifyIt may only need one failure to affect it badly and 2016 may be the year the dotcom bubble 2.0 would eventually goes pop. The founder of PayPal and a billionaire tech investor, Peter Thiel states that we are in a bubble owing to the low interest rate environment that had been talked over earlier.
He comments that `I think we have a bubble in the US in government bonds, due to the quantitative easing and the adverse real interest rates and to some extent that increases asset values all over the board inclusive of start-ups’
