They were already too big 5 to 10 years ago, and thus bought their way into continuing to be the best at providing what the provide (subsuming smaller innovativ

They were already too big 5 to 10 years ago, and thus bought their way into continuing to be the best at providing what the provide (subsuming smaller innovative companies and arguably leaving us worse off than we would have been had they been left to innovate independently). Many of the market leaders cited in the piece were already market leaders when they were bought by these 4 (I'd add MS to the list).