Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Bet on or Against the Unicorns

Unicorn bucket

We have talked a few times around here about two related problems:

1. It is hard to buy stock in hot private tech startups. They are private, is the main problem. Their stock does not trade on the exchange; it is not freely available to anyone who wants to buy it. You need to know someone who has stock to sell, and even if you find someone, you might need permission from the company to buy their stock.
2. It is hard to short private tech startups. Because their stock doesn’t trade freely, you can’t borrow shares to sell ...