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The thing about tech monopolies are they operate at huge losses until they wipe out the competition and then they start jacking up costs way higher than the mar

The thing about tech monopolies are they operate at huge losses until they wipe out the competition and then they start jacking up costs way higher than the market normally would allow because they've laid waste to the competitive landscape by operating for so long at such scale at huge losses. That was what the argument against allowing tech platforms to consolidate was. Think about all the platforms that were bought or went under during the 2010s. By being able to operate at losses for so long while buying their competitors / putting them out of business, they've salted the ground in terms of competition for their categories.

scarface_74 3y ago
Yes, I’m sure that Twitter and Reddit are going to take the world by storm any day now. But, if you really want to look at the biggest companies in tech: 1. Apple was founded in 1977 and never racked up huge losses 2. Microsoft was profitable before it went public in 1980 and only took investor funding later on because BG wanted advice 3. Google never lost huge amounts of money 4. Facebook was profitable before going public and only went public because they had so many shareholders that they had the same reporting requirements as a public company. 5. Amazon (disclaimer my employer) is the only one that took huge losses early on. So which “monopoly” do you believe operated at huge losses that is now successful?
- Natfan 3y ago
  Regarding point #3, doesn't YouTube lose Google millions a year? The amount of server space needed to transcode and store all of that video data must be immense, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a loss leader so that Google can have much more dominance over the personal video space (see DailyMotion, Vimeo(?) and others which tried and failed to be YouTube competitors)
  - scarface_74 3y ago
    From the best I can find, YouTube is barely break even. And if you really want to be pedantic (not saying you are), Apple lost billions between 1995-1999. But not trying to capture market share. No one wanted their products.

scarface_74 3y ago

Yes, I’m sure that Twitter and Reddit are going to take the world by storm any day now. But, if you really want to look at the biggest companies in tech: 1. Apple was founded in 1977 and never racked up huge losses 2. Microsoft was profitable before it went public in 1980 and only took investor funding later on because BG wanted advice 3. Google never lost huge amounts of money 4. Facebook was profitable before going public and only went public because they had so many shareholders that they had the same reporting requirements as a public company. 5. Amazon (disclaimer my employer) is the only one that took huge losses early on. So which “monopoly” do you believe operated at huge losses that is now successful?

Natfan 3y ago
Regarding point #3, doesn't YouTube lose Google millions a year? The amount of server space needed to transcode and store all of that video data must be immense, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a loss leader so that Google can have much more dominance over the personal video space (see DailyMotion, Vimeo(?) and others which tried and failed to be YouTube competitors)
- scarface_74 3y ago
  From the best I can find, YouTube is barely break even. And if you really want to be pedantic (not saying you are), Apple lost billions between 1995-1999. But not trying to capture market share. No one wanted their products.