Last week, Twitter underwent its IPO procedures and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Initially valued at $26 a share, the price skyrocketed to reach $50 and later stabilising at about $45+-. Why is that Twitter, reporting a loss for the last three quarters, has been able to have such a successful listing? Recently, we have been experiencing a growth trend in the public listing of technological giants whose products are somewhat intangible. Facebook's IPO last year, Google's share passing the benchmark of $1000 per share and Twitter's listing, in my opinion, are signs of a new 'Tech bubble' that could pose potential hazards. On the other hand, we are living in societies that see technological advancement as the only way forward in future economic prosperity. Technology has seen a growth in private investment but more so from the government. The governments of the emerging economies have made technological progress a pillar of their economic development. Recently, Russia has adopted a strategy entitled 'Russia 2020' in which, the government has pledged to increase its funding in the technology and establish 20 Silicon Valley-type developments around the country to foster new ideas. Arguably, the value we place on technology is reflected in the ever growing share prices of tech companies but we need to ensure that we don't overvalue companies which provide futile services such as social networking which have little effect on the development of our economies.
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