We Are Living in a Monopoly Moment

Think about this: in just about any given market sector you’ll end up finding that only three companies dominate. In aviation, United…

Photo by Joao Tzanno on Unsplash

Think about this: in just about any given market sector you’ll end up finding that only three companies dominate. In aviation: United, Delta and American Airlines control about 70% of the market share. The remaining 30% is held by all the other carriers. In telecom: AT&T, Sprint/T-Mobile, and Verizon control almost 100% of the market! I can go on … ok I will:

• High-end retail: Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and Saks Fifth

• In personal computing: Lenovo (formerly IBM), HP, and Dell

• Burger fast-food: McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s

• Soft-drinks (and water): Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper

• Social media: Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp (yes its all one company), Twitter, and Snapchat

• Pay-TV television: AT&T, Comcast, Charter Communications

• Online retail: Amazon (50%!), Ebay and Apple

I call this the “Rule of Three”

Companies like AT&T hold dominant market share in multiple industries, like television and telecommunications.