Are some of Silicon Valley’s high-tech companies getting too big?
Many people have looked at companies like Google and believe that it is getting too big, that it is too well integrated both vertically and horizontally, and that it is overstepping the bounds of antitrust laws in the US. In fact, it has already attracted attention. from regulators on more than one occasion, and you have to wonder when is enough; enough? Should Google be dissolved and challenged by the Federal Trade Commission, as Microsoft was?
Obviously, there are a lot of politics involved, and Google has done very well in lobbying Congress so that it can avoid such regulation in Washington DC, but it’s not alone in this problem. Consider whether you’ll use Facebook or Apple, or what about Amazon, a recent Wall Street Journal article suggests: They, too, are in uncharted territory, and this surprises people—people who understand antitrust laws in the world, that is. the United States and how they are applied selectively.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal in November 2010 titled; “In The Claws Of The New Monopolists: Take Down Google? Break Up Facebook? We Can’t Imagine Life Without Them, And That’s The Problem” by Tim Wu. This article was an editorial, but Tim Wu mentions a very good one. Period, and I think I’d like to recommend your book, which is also very good, “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires.”
And even if we don’t care too much about these particular companies, because they provide a lot of value online, we also need to understand what they’re doing in the market for innovative thought leaders. Because they’re taking all the best talent in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, and they’re making it harder for other companies to compete for that same talent. If you work at a place like Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, or Amazon, you can get a tremendously great salary. It would be hard for other industries to match that or pay you for that kind of talent.
In fact, another interesting set of articles also in the Wall Street Journal really makes you think. First, I would like to recommend that you read an article by Martin Peers, also published in November 2010 entitled; “Searching Google for Pay” and “Google Battles to Keep Talent” by Amir Efrati and Pui-Wing Tam. Both are significant points of contention, and they speak to the overall size of these companies, and the challenges they face in the marketplace, and how that affects the rest of the innovative companies out there.
In fact, I hope you’ll consider this and if you have any other ideas on these types of topics, please email me, because I like to discuss it with you. Think about it.