Big Tech CEOs Claim Their Companies Aren't Too Big - But Their Profits Tell Another Story

A recent report from Business Insider states that claims by the CEOs of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook that their companies are not “that big” is undermined by the massive profits that the tech titans generate.

A recent report from Business Insider notes that the CEO’s of major American tech firms Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook appeared before the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel this week to discuss the market dominance of their firms and issues relating to censorship on their platforms. During the hearing, the CEOs made a number of claims relating to their platforms and the competition they face, alleging that they are not in fact “that big” and did not have a monopoly on the markets they operate in.

Business Insider, however, notes that Big Tech has added $230 billion to its market value since the beginning of the recent Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, with more people staying at home and tech services seeing a huge surge in demand. Business Insider writes:

On Wednesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg implied at the historic antitrust hearing that every other company was beating the social media giant.

“The most popular messaging service in the US is iMessage,” Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks, referring to Apple’s texting service. “The fastest-growing app is TikTok. The most popular app for video is YouTube. The fastest growing ads platform is Amazon. The largest ads platform is Google. And for every dollar spent on advertising in the US, less than 10 cents is spent with us.”
Yet on Thursday, Facebook’s earnings jumped 11% year-on-year. It reported daily active users of nearly 1.8 billion, 12% higher than last year, and monthly active users of 2.7 billion, another 12% rise.

Business Insider writes that the contrast of a Big Tech CEO downplaying the size of their company and revealing impressive earnings just a day later was replicated by every CEO at this week’s hearing. Amazon reported record quarterly profit and a 40 percent increase in sales, yet in his opening remarks this week Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos stated: “Every day, Amazon competes against large, established players like Target, Costco, Kroger, and, of course, Walmart—a company more than twice Amazon’s size.” Bezos’ net worth increased to $180 billion this week due to an increase in Amazon’s share price.

Apple reported Q3 revenues of $59.7 billion, an increase of $6 billion from last year, and profits of $11.25 billion despite closing many of its stores due to the pandemic. Google parent Alphabet was the only one of the cour to see a decline in its revenue to $31.6 billion, down two percent year-on-year as demand for advertising slowed, yet the company still beat Wall Street estimates.

Christopher Rossbach, CIO of J. Stern & Co., commented in a research note that these companies could see increased scrutiny from regulating bodies and politicians in the future. “Tougher times may lie ahead, and investors need to be aware that — as we have seen with the Congressional Hearing this week — politicians are growing increasingly concerned about the reach of these companies. But that doesn’t mean the business has peaked, indeed far from it,” Rossbach stated.

Big Tech CEOs Claim Their Companies Aren’t Too Big – But Their Profits Tell Another Story

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