这是美国5家最具价值的公司
These are the 5 most valuable companies in America.
注意到了吗？
Notice anything?
他们都是科技公司
They’re all tech companies.
他们的主导地位引起了监管机构的注意
And their dominance is attracting attention
他们说它们的市场力量
from watchdog groups that say their market
损害了市场竞争和市场经济
power is harming competition and the economy.
大型科技企业解体的时代到来了吗？
Is it time to breakup big tech?
要回答这个问题 首先得了解科技企业是如何爆炸性发展起来的
To answer you have to understand how techhas exploded.
就我们的目的而言 让我们把这5家顶级科技公司想象成
For our purposes let ’ s imagine the top 5 tech giants as pacman,
吃豆人或是吃豆公司的游戏
or pac-companies.
除了在这个游戏中 无需躲避四周的鬼魂–没有布灵奇
Except in this game, there ’ s no ghosts around to avoid- no blinky,
也没有克莱德 因为那些鬼魂是美国的监管部门
no clyde, those ghosts are U.S. regulators.
在过去的十年间
For the past decade,
美国基本上不插手大型科技企业的发展
the U.S. Has been mostly hands-off with big tech, letting them become even bigger
让他们通过吞并小规模的竞争对手或是进入新市场发展壮大
by swallowing their smaller rivals or entering new markets.
彭博社数据显示
Bloomberg data show that
在过去10年 这5家科技公司兼并了将近500家企业
in the last 10 years the big 5 have made close to 500 acquisitions
价值1400亿美元
worth about $140 billion.
因为消费者喜欢他们的产品
Because consumers like their products, Amazon, Apple,
所以亚马逊 苹果 脸书和谷歌公司都占有相当大的市场份额
Facebook and Google have developed huge market shares.
比如 亚马逊在电子书销售中占了93%的份额
For example, amazon receives 93% of all e-booksales.
谷歌在美国的网络搜索广告支出中占到了78%
Google pulls in 78 % of internet search ad spending in the U.S…
同样 苹果公司和脸书在高端智能手机市场和社交媒体流量也占据着主导地位
Similarly Apple and Facebook dominate in high-end smartphones and social media traffic.
但是垄断在美国并不是非法的……
But being a monopoly isn ’ t illegal in the U.S…
或者说在大多数国家都是合法的
.Or most other countries.
而监管部门在很早以前就不再将垄断和非法划上等号了
Regulators stopped equating big with bad a long time ago.
现在美国的垄断案件已经大幅减少了
Monopoly cases brought by the U.S. have dwindled.
上一次备受关注的垄断案件发生在1998年
In fact, the last high-profile case was in 1998,
美国司法部成功地
when the justice department successfully
挑战了微软在计算机操作系统方面的统治地位
challenged Microsoft’s dominance of computer operating systems.
但20年的垄断案件干旱期
And that 20 year dry spell
让一些监察机构认为
in monopoly cases has led some watch dogs to say that enforcement
美国的执法太过于胆怯
in the U.S. has become too timid.
他们说大科技企业不利于创新 导致工作机会和工资水平的下降……
They say big tech is hurting innovation, jobs and wages…
他们甚至把成功创业的减少
And some even blame the behemoths
归咎于巨兽
for a decline in successful startups…
在欧洲 美国的
In Europe, America ’ s
大型科技企业所面临的政府阻力
big tech companies have faced more resistance with governments
比政府助力更大
more aggressively pursuing them.
例如 谷歌曾因滥用其市场主导地位被欧盟罚款
For example, the E.U. has fined Google for abusing its market dominance and Germany is
脸书因其隐私惯例被德国调查
investigating Facebook for its privacy practices.
当然 大型科技企业并不觉得他们需要被拆分
Of course big tech doesn ’ t think they need to be broken up.
他们声称他们的主导地位不一定持久
They argue their dominance isn ’
因为新的竞争者轻而易举就能进入这个圈子
t necessarily durable because new competitors can easily jump in.
正如谷歌所指出的
As Google likes to point out,
竞争只在“一键之间”
competition is just “ one click away. ”