Feels like the old days?

Yesterday LinkedIn floated on the NYSE and in the first day of trading their shares screamed upwards, doubling in value. According to the BBC

"LinkedIn sold 7.84 million shares at $45 each. At $100 a share the company is worth about $10bn."

It's one company, one float, but it does feel a little like the old days when internet companies took off at a million miles an hour. The Financial Times has already started reporting that there are fears of a return to the bubble saying 

"...it also drew warnings that a new internet bubble might be in the making, with investors rushing to pay prices far higher than a level that was considered extravagant only days before."

If there is significant demand for new internet floats there may be something in this. But I'm left feeling that we're about to go round the merry go round again having learnt nothing from the last ten years. 


This is a real failure of vision, we have not replaced old models of growth either at the company or the country level with anything meaningful. Without that the old models will hold and we'll be open to repeating our mistakes that led to the credit crisis and the recession again. 


Not that anyone in LinkedIn should be worried. They've pulled off a great flotation. Here's hoping that there is a real, long term business under the hood.


Finbarr