

Subprime Fallout Could Help Venture Capitalists - dpapathanasiou
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/business/24venture.html?ex=1345608000&en=8dc397136301c8aa&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

======
ctkrohn
I'm not sure this is a great comparison. Many of the holders of subprime
mortgage securities were mutual, hedge, and pension funds that focused on
these securities by choice or by law. Even if they wanted to switch their
investments to tech, it's a totally unrelated area in which many of these
firms have zero expertise. Finally, many pension funds and mutual funds are
required to hold securities with a certain credit rating... I imagine it's
fairly rare to find new tech companies with investment-grade credit.

To be sure, there are going to be some investors pulling their money out of
subprime and looking in other places. But tech is just one of those places.
You could just as easily say that the subprime collapse will help Japanese
equities or European corporate bonds.

~~~
dpapathanasiou
Leaving aside the whole question of whether or not credit ratings are reliable
([http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/20/magazines/fortune/ratings_ag...](http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/20/magazines/fortune/ratings_agencies.fortune/index.htm?section=money_topstories)),
you're right, funds need to be responsible.

But they also need to provide a certain level of return, and right now,
housing is not the place to go.

Tech looks better now (because of companies like VM Ware and Blade Logic), and
since there is no other "obvious" (for lack of a better word) place to invest,
tech funds (including VC funds) will benefit.

