Want some proof that the stock market is absolutely insane? Look no further than Cynk, a tech company whose value has soared 25,000 percent in the past month or so to $4 billion. That’s a ridiculous amount of value for any stock to gain, and it gets even more absurd when you consider the fact that nobody seems to know if the company even actually exists. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
As far as anyone can tell, Cynk has a single “product,” if you can even call it that. It’s a social network of sorts called IntroBiz, which claims to be able to connect you to a ton of high-profile celebrities, as long as you’re willing to shell out some cash. How much? Prices range from $50 to $5,000. There are a total of two “socialites” selling their contacts—you can apparently get Tom Cruise’s phone number for just $50—but that’s it.
Both the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider have done some serious sleuthing on Cynk and come up with more questions than answers. The company’s business filings show a rapidly spinning CEO position that has hosted four different people in the past six years, and a confusing mix of contact information that includes locations from Belize to Miami to Nevada.
But why is it suddenly such a high-dollar item? That’s the biggest unanswered question of all. Theories run the gamut from stock scams to a bunch of bored investors just having some fun, but it’s abundantly clear at this point that the value is unsustainable.
With zero revenue, a half-baked product, and nothing in the way of a coherent business plan, Cynk will almost certainly lose most of its value in short order. Until then, it remains a puzzling curiosity that makes the stock market look like a painfully embarrassing parody of itself.
H/T Wall Street Journal | Photo by Iman Mosaad/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)