Big Tech Companies: Time For A Breakup?

The 5 tech companies we will discuss are referred to as FAAMG: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. The earned revenues of those tech companies equated to 68% of US GDP growth in 2018. In terms of global traffic, Google, YouTube (which is owned by Google), and Facebook are the three most visited websites. With this, comes enormous power. For example, in terms of global traffic share, Facebook-owned sites controlled a huge segment of social media and messaging.

This is a great time to discuss which tech companies own what - in order of FAAMG listing. Facebook owns WhatsApp and Instagram, and Amazon owns Whole Foods and Zappos. Apple owns Shazam, Beats Electronics, and Siri Technologies. Additionally, Microsoft has made ten acquisitions valued over 1 billion dollars: Skype, LinkedIn, Nokia’s mobile/devices division, and more. Lastly, Google - now referred to as Alphabet - owns YouTube, as previously mentioned, Waze, DoubleClick, Nest, and more.

Although Big Tech companies own a string of ultra-valuable subsidiaries, many companies aren’t getting their money’s worth from their investments. In January 2019, SoftBank invested in WeWork, the amount invested: $47 billion. However, by September 2019, investor skepticism led to a potential valuation of as low as $10 billion. This prompted a further $1.5 billion “bailout” investment.”

2 in 3 Americans have the desire for Big Tech to be broken up; but, more than half of Americans are using Big Tech platforms. 9 in 10 use Google Search, 7 in 10 have an active Facebook account, and 2 in 3 have purchased something on Amazon. 

There are several outcomes of what the breakup of Big Tech could look like. Tech giants such as Amazon could be broken into separate companies such as “Amazon Marketplace,” “Amazon Basics,” and more. More than this, a Google Search would be treated equally to the weight of other search engines such as Yelp, Yahoo!, Bing, and more.

As Antitrust and Big Tech is gatewaying into politics, it's only a matter of time before Big Tech is broken down. Continue reading for more insights on whether or not Big Tech companies have grown too big to fail.