Will a share of Google be worth more than an ounce of gold?
October 31st, 2007 | by mbhunter |They’re less than $100 apart now. Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has had an incredible run-up — far higher than I ever thought it would go, honestly. I thought the IPO was high at ~$100. It was within a buck of $700 at one point yesterday. Shows you how much I know — after all, the market is always right. GOOG closed over $15 higher on buzz of the Google Phone.
Gold, as well, has had a great run-up. It’s teasing $800 per ounce after blowing through $700 around Labor Day. Any number of reasons could explain the buying: a weakening dollar, increased tensions with Iran, the problems with the credit markets, the housing slump. Whatever the reason, people like gold these days.
Both are susceptible to drops in a recession. Gold might be sold to raise cash as necessary, or businesses will cut back on their AdWords advertising to meet payroll. Gold doesn’t answer to anybody, but Google must publish financial statements and must deliver earnings to stay in investor demand.
Man, if only my crystal ball were out of the shop. Any prognosticators out there? 
5 Responses to “Will a share of Google be worth more than an ounce of gold?”
By Matthew Paulson on Nov 4, 2007 | Reply
I remember when people thuoght the price was over-inflated at $300 a share…jeesh, when will it end? Anway, Google needs to split their stock!
By Brian Dorion on Nov 13, 2007 | Reply
Interesting you should ask. I was just reading Jim Kunstler’s blog at http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/. He’s got a pretty bleak outlook for the market in general. He’s predicting big changes within five years that makes gold look really good. It would be nice if I actually could afford gold.
By Brian Dorion on Nov 13, 2007 | Reply
Wow, I really need to pay attention to where the RSS feeds I’m reading are coming from. I went from your post to Kunstler’s blog, back to Google Reader and then responded to this post without realizing that I was back at the site of the original post. Sorry about linking to Kunstler’s blog.
By Greling on Mar 15, 2008 | Reply
SMALL UPDATE:
On March 13, 2008, gold broke the $1000 mark and Google fell below the $400 mark.
That tidbit will make all of the gold bashers I know swallow their pride!