After giving this some thought, it occurs to me that an exchange traded fund (ETF) might not be such a great thing for cloud computing: it does nothing to advance work being done on the technical or organizational fronts. This is simply a vehicle for investors and the fund's creator, First Trust (FT), to make money while not really risking anything. In effect, the companies tracked by this ETF do not benefit from it as they would from an IPO.
FT created SKYY to capitalize on cloud computing while not actually investing in any company. I can hear all of you capitalists and free marketeers having apoplectic fits. Don't get me wrong: I understand that in a capitalist society you make money when and how you can and continue to do so for as long as possible. When it was launched, FT stood to make about $20 a share and they made their money. (SKYY is currently trading at $18.24, its lowest point since its launch on July 6,2011.)
While the capitalist agenda resonates and makes it easy for investors to avoid risk by investing in a "diversified" fund, it does nothing to help companies and their customers who are on the forefront of the technology and business issues, confronting them on a daily basis. Dollars invested in a vaporous (pardon the pun) investment vehicle could have been spent on shares offered by the various tracked companies or, better yet, in companies that will IPO in the near future.
Leveraging someone else's work to make a dollar can be thought of as being dishonest or unethical. Yet here we are, making use of legitimate companies' efforts, without regard for the blood, sweat, and tears shed by its employees, all in the name of making a buck. Investors: put your money where it will make the biggest impact and invest in innovation. The returns for the economy will be greater.
No comments:
Post a Comment