MySpace worth $20 billion?

Brace yourself, Web 2.0 is in full throttle. The latest evidence comes from a crazy valuation for Beverly Hills-based MySpace, which was bought by News Corp. last year for about $600 million. In a research note today, Jordon Rohan of RBC Capital Markets figures that the popular social networking site "should generate value of $10 billion-$20 billion within a few years." That assumes YouTube and FaceBook are worth $1 billion, and Google is worth $120 billion. But what are those assumptions based on? Certainly not profitability. Yaser Anwar, who says he works for RBC, was among many commenting that Rohan didn't know what he was talking about. But Rohan came prepared.

"Ridicule is part of the job description of a sell-side analyst, particularly when he is more bullish about a business model than even the management team of a hot Internet property," according to Rohan. "We are acutely aware that some media investors will try to punch holes in our thought pattern, or at the very least, disagree with our valuation."