A dozen donuts for a dozen zeros

Friends,
Alphabet began celebrating. Defying every faultfinder, Google-hoarding investors just knew leading markets never overestimate pricing. Questioning reason, surpassing trillion U$. Valiantly weathering xpectations yielding zero.

OK, the preceding was bad (it got pretty dicey at the end). I was trying to start each word in alphabetical order to reinforce the fact Alphabet, Google's parent, became only the fourth company to ever surpass a trillion dollars in market capitalization (although, with Amazon stock dipping a bit, there are only currently three in that club). Despite the fact that a number one followed by twelve zeroes is a far cry from the 100 zeros of a Googol, you have to admit it's still pretty cool --and more money than I can imagine.

Along the same vein, this week Tesla became the U.S. automaker with the highest market capitalization. Despite the huge achievement, I can't help but to throw a few flies in the ointment. First, it limits the comparison to the U.S., so companies like Toyota, with more than twice Tesla's market cap were overlooked. Second, market capitalization is not the same as enterprise value. Both Ford and GM have higher enterprise values, but much of that value is in their debt. Third, the stock price driving this market capitalization is entirely based on future expectations (Tesla is not profitable at this point in time), so it comes down to how good the collective crystal ball may be.

In any event, it seems to me the best way to celebrate a trillion dollar company is with a dozen donuts. After all, donuts resemble zeros. A donut for each of the zeros in a trillion.

Happy Friday!

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