On eBay's big markdown of Skype...

Reading news of the big markdown by eBay of Skype from the lofty $2.6 billion price tag to $1.4 billion two years later certainly has a lot of people saying "I told you so."

At the time, most everyone (except perhaps Meg Whitman and her cohorts) knew that the Skype founders who probably laughed all the way to the bank. We might think Whitman should understand the "auction mentality," of how some people, like compulsive gamblers, are driven to chase after auctions irrationally. She might get a few days of highs, thinking she bagged a "steal." Too bad there's no recourse for buyer's regret.

The same will be true to the couple of YouTube founders who offer a service that has little way to be monetized (at least in the foreseeable future). At least Google has a big enough piggybank to continue the bleeding. But as eBay heading down the maturity path, it can hardly afford slip-ups like that. The same will be true for Google, when the time comes.

I'm glad I didn't chase and buy Google or eBay. Some might say that's stupid, but I would rather buy something that's a real long-term investment, rather than buying on momentum only.