4 ms·

Does anyone else have trouble getting upset about these kind of stories? I can believe anti-competitive behavior is happening, but we're talking about snapchat

Does anyone else have trouble getting upset about these kind of stories? I can believe anti-competitive behavior is happening, but we're talking about snapchat stories and Instagram trends. It's not like they are a phone company raising prices on their customers or a railroad squeezing shippers. I get why this could be bad for a competitive marketplace, but does this hurt the consumer? What are the net downsides of this sort of behavior (not being sarcastic. I really have trouble thinking of any serious ones)

darawk 7y ago
The downside is that if you know Facebook can and will do this to any competitive threat, you just won't bother to start your company in the first place.
- threeseed 7y ago
  As I mentioned before if your product is so weak at differentiation and defensibility then it doesn't deserve to be launched in the first place. Facebook can only compete with you if you let them.
- jonas21 7y ago
  I can think of many reasons why I wouldn't want to start a company, but a fear that one day Facebook will show up and threaten to copy me unless I accept a multi-billion dollar acquisition offer is not one of them.
  - darawk 7y ago
    Firstly, those offers will shrink over time as Facebook refines its playbook, and it becomes more and more clear that they can win by copying. Secondly, it doesn't just impact you the founder, it also impacts VCs thinking about funding you. $1-2 billion may be a lot of money for you and me, but if you're a venture capitalist investing $10 million in lots of low probability bets, you need them to have the potential for very high returns.
  - pigeon888 7y ago
    Fantastic^
- likpok 7y ago
  The counterexamples: Facebook and Microsoft exist, yet Slack is worth over a billion dollars. Facebook, Microsoft and Cisco exist, and Zoom is over a billion. I can't find a valuation for Bluejeans is doing, but they're no slouch either (they've raised at least 100M). Google tried to kill Facebook this way, and failed.
fragmede 7y ago
The feared downside is that FAANG quintopoly will forever own the Internet, which will stagnate and how we currently experience the Internet is how it will always be. That's a bit paranoid, to be sure, but in the face of anti-competitive behavior, it's not hard to believe in that possibility. Microsoft was convicted of anti-competitive behavior, but by then it was too late, and Windows reigned supreme until it lost smartphones.
- filleduchaos 7y ago
  I'm not quite sure how Netflix (and to a lesser extent Apple) registers alongside the rest as "owning the Internet". They're not even assured dominance in the streaming market alone.
washadjeffmad 7y ago
This is the coal that feeds the engine that cannibalizes the market. This particular circumstance might not matter to you, but what if FB uses proceeds like this to (fund legislation that makes it easier for them to) smother other companies in the cradle and assimilate their corpses? What might that monster look like fully formed, I wonder?
burtonator 7y ago
Whatsapp, Instagram, Oculus, ... do you want all companies to be under three main tech companies?
- skinnymuch 7y ago
  What would the three be? Alphabet is obviously one. Microsoft does far more mid sized and big acquisitions than Facebook. Even Amazon does more known or consumer facing company acquisitions (Ring, PillPack, Souq (big If you’re in the Middle East countries it’s big in) in last few years)) than Facebook.

darawk 7y ago

The downside is that if you know Facebook can and will do this to any competitive threat, you just won't bother to start your company in the first place.

threeseed 7y ago
As I mentioned before if your product is so weak at differentiation and defensibility then it doesn't deserve to be launched in the first place. Facebook can only compete with you if you let them.
jonas21 7y ago
I can think of many reasons why I wouldn't want to start a company, but a fear that one day Facebook will show up and threaten to copy me unless I accept a multi-billion dollar acquisition offer is not one of them.
- darawk 7y ago
  Firstly, those offers will shrink over time as Facebook refines its playbook, and it becomes more and more clear that they can win by copying. Secondly, it doesn't just impact you the founder, it also impacts VCs thinking about funding you. $1-2 billion may be a lot of money for you and me, but if you're a venture capitalist investing $10 million in lots of low probability bets, you need them to have the potential for very high returns.
- pigeon888 7y ago
  Fantastic^
likpok 7y ago
The counterexamples: Facebook and Microsoft exist, yet Slack is worth over a billion dollars. Facebook, Microsoft and Cisco exist, and Zoom is over a billion. I can't find a valuation for Bluejeans is doing, but they're no slouch either (they've raised at least 100M). Google tried to kill Facebook this way, and failed.

fragmede 7y ago

The feared downside is that FAANG quintopoly will forever own the Internet, which will stagnate and how we currently experience the Internet is how it will always be. That's a bit paranoid, to be sure, but in the face of anti-competitive behavior, it's not hard to believe in that possibility. Microsoft was convicted of anti-competitive behavior, but by then it was too late, and Windows reigned supreme until it lost smartphones.

filleduchaos 7y ago
I'm not quite sure how Netflix (and to a lesser extent Apple) registers alongside the rest as "owning the Internet". They're not even assured dominance in the streaming market alone.

washadjeffmad 7y ago

This is the coal that feeds the engine that cannibalizes the market. This particular circumstance might not matter to you, but what if FB uses proceeds like this to (fund legislation that makes it easier for them to) smother other companies in the cradle and assimilate their corpses? What might that monster look like fully formed, I wonder?

burtonator 7y ago

Whatsapp, Instagram, Oculus, ... do you want all companies to be under three main tech companies?

skinnymuch 7y ago
What would the three be? Alphabet is obviously one. Microsoft does far more mid sized and big acquisitions than Facebook. Even Amazon does more known or consumer facing company acquisitions (Ring, PillPack, Souq (big If you’re in the Middle East countries it’s big in) in last few years)) than Facebook.