Sun Microsystems Co-Founder: Snapchat Content Not Absolutely Critical, Has Shelf Life of a Banana

As Snap (NYSE:SNAP) becomes the latest tech company to go public, Wayin Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, and former Sun Microsystems CEO, Scott McNealy discusses the company as a potential job creator and investment.

When pointed out that the Snap IPO was creating wealth, with a potential $24 billion valuation, but didn’t appear to be creating jobs, with less than 1,900 employees, McNealy took issue, saying, “What do wealthy folks do with their money?  They either spend it, which creates jobs, they invest it in other companies or their own company, which eventually creates jobs, or they save it, which lowers the cost of capital, which allows jobs to be created or they give the money away.”

On the other hand, McNealy explained, “The only other thing they do is give it to the government in taxes, which is a total waste, well, near total waste I should say.”

McNealy then raised concerns about investing in Snap.

“This younger generation doesn’t have the loyalty to the technology and a lot of the content on Snapchat doesn’t strike me as absolutely critical and has a shelf life of a banana.”

McNealy viewed LinkedIn and Facebook’s social media platforms as much easier to monetize.

“You look at things like LinkedIn and Facebook and other things, stuff is kept there, their relationships are kept there for a long, long period of time and I think are a lot more durable and that becomes an easier thing to monetize.”

Because of that, McNealy believes LinkedIn creates value for its parent company Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

“Using LinkedIn for instance, as a social networking environment has real value and provides real value and I think Microsoft has something valuable there.”