Facebook Passes EBay in Value, Becoming No. 3 U.S. Web Company

eBay has to disclose honestly (under threat of tough securities laws) all its financial information and major decisions to analysts who look for weaknesses and holes. Anyone can dump all their ebay shares instantly if the company starts to stink too much.

Facebook shares are not subject to any outside scrutiny and those that do hold them are in a privileged club. If you are in that club, you will talk up your investment because your payday is coming soon (IPO). Even if the company stinks, you need to keep up the appearance that it smells like roses until you get your payday. Once Facebook opens up to the public market analysts then we can see how much it is worth, until then its all rubbish.