'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli Mocks IONQ CEO's Nvidia-Sized Ambition: 'Craziest Statement From A CEO I Have Ever Heard'
Investor Martin Shkreli criticized IONQ CEO Peter Chapman for comparing the company's growth to tech giants like Cisco and Nvidia. Shkreli called Chapman's statement the "craziest" he's heard, noting Chapman sold 80% of his stake at peak valuation. Despite IONQ's recent success, Shkreli views it as one of the best short opportunities, echoing sentiments from Nvidia's and Meta's CEOs about quantum computing's long-term potential. IONQ's shares fell 1.70% on Wednesday, continuing a downward trend in overnight trading.
Investor Martin Shkreli, popularly known as “Pharma Bro,” is once again criticizing quantum computing company, IONQ Inc. IONQ, for comments made by its CEO, Peter Chapman.
The ‘Craziest’ Statement From A CEO
On Wednesday, in a post on X, Shkreli called out Chapman’s recent statements, where he is comparing his company’s growth trajectory to tech giants such as Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO and NVIDIA Corp. NVDA, with market capitalizations of $266 billion and $4.3 trillion, respectively.
“Cisco has a market cap of hundreds of billions of dollars,” Chapman said, in an audio snippet attached to Shkreli’s post, adding that, “At minimum, the future of IonQ looks like that and the ceiling of it looks like Nvidia.”
Calling out Chapman’s statement, Shkreli said, “This is the craziest statement from a CEO I have ever heard and I went to prison for securities fraud.”
The comments on Shkreli’s post have pointed out that Chapman has sold “80% of his beneficial stake” in the company, when its valuation was at its peak.
iONQ Is ‘One of The Best Shorts’
Despite its remarkable run-up over the past year, Shkreli has been referring to iONQ as one of the “best shorts” he has ever seen in his career.
His skepticism aligns with Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms Inc. META, who have both suggested in the past that quantum computing applications are at least 15 to 20 years away from practical implementation.
Shkreli has also accused iONQ, and other quantum computing stocks, such as D-Wave Quantum Inc. QBTS, Rigetti Computing Inc. RGTI and Quantum Computing Inc. QUBT of using revenue gimmicks.
iONQ’s shares were down 1.70% on Wednesday, closing at $73.86, and are down another 1.30% in overnight trade. The stock ranks high on Momentum, with a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long terms. Click here for deeper insights into the stock, its peers and competitors.
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