Completely agree, looks like that's where evolution is sadly bringing us. Reminds me of a totally different example, recently saw a documentary on the history

Completely agree, looks like that's where evolution is sadly bringing us. Reminds me of a totally different example, recently saw a documentary on the history of Whistler Blackcomb (ski resort in BC). They used to be two different resorts geographically right next to each others. While they were competing, they were innovating, one playing on the cool side, crafting runs to be perfect for snowboarding. The other was playing on the family / classy side, distributing hot chocolate in the lineups. Prices were kept down. Then they merged into one resort, which apart from the purely skiing part is undifferentiable from others. Prices went up. The resort got bought out by Vale 3y ago, prices skirocketed (50% increase on the daily tickets). Point is, competition was keeping two small businesses at bay, caring at least 2fks for their satisfaction cause if they weren't, they would just climb the south mountain rather than the north. Now if you want actual competition you need to drive 6h to the east, so who cares. Plus you now need to extract administration cost for the larger entity and dividends for the larger number of shareholders that have supported the investment. Any consolidation that happens makes me sad, cause it's never good for you as a customer.