Silicon Valley's Monopolists

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged]( From [Bloomberg](   [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]([Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Hi, folks. It's [Shira](mailto:sovide@bloomberg.net?cmpid=BBD042617_TECH&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170426&utm_campaign=tech). In the last week or two, I've read several [thought](-[provoking]( [pieces]( [about]( giant technology companies that have grown into monopolies and perhaps should be broken up like the old AT&T. Cries of monopoly are not a new phenomenon for tech. Just [ask]( [Google](. But this latest round of hand-wringing feels different. For one, it's not just coming from the usual anti-corporate worrywarts; people from deep in the Silicon Valley hive mind are among the ones concerned about whether a handful of businesses have gotten too big for the industry's own good. And two, it's not a single tech titan that people fear has grown dangerously powerful, but at least three—Google, Facebook and Amazon—at once. [Tech titans' dominance]( is an inescapable subject in Silicon Valley, and it seems no one is immune from fears of being run over. "As a smaller company relative to the tech giants...it's not negotiable that we have to move really, really quickly....Otherwise you get eliminated," Pinterest's CEO said on a [recent episode]( of Bloomberg's [Decrypted podcast](. And Pinterest is not a tiny upstart, but a company valued at $11 billion. The power of technology giants is even too much for a merely big company. Ben Thompson's [Aggregation Theory]( lays out why the big in technology tend to get even bigger, although in different ways than we imagine a nasty monopolist that abuses its power to force up prices. People don't pay Google and Facebook for anything, so there is no price gouging. Product prices at Amazon might go down, not up, and shopping there is convenient. People like using these services. The tech giants have monopolies by popular choice. That doesn't mean their dominance can't take its toll. If you have a product and it is not for sale on Amazon—or if it's not available for free shipping to Prime customers—it might as well not exist. If you record a video and the algorithms at Google and Facebook don't give it prominence, it is invisible. Facebook is harnessing its nearly 2 billion users and army of developers to try to [murder Snapchat](. It's worth reading this [article]( from the Yale Law Journal. It argues that U.S. legal doctrine became too narrowly focused on higher consumer prices as evidence of monopoly power, and therefore is ill-equipped to deal with today's technology superpowers. (The piece was about Amazon, but elements of it were applicable broadly to the internet economy.) The idea is that these network effects—the growing usefulness of an online service as it gains more users, consumer data and suppliers—can be just as damaging as jacking up supermarket prices. It's hard to imagine our lawmakers trying a [Glass-Steagell Act]( to separate Amazon's retail business from its marketplace operation, as the Yale article suggests. But it is clear the fears about tech's Too Powerful to Fail are only getting worse.  And here’s what you need to know in global technology news [Twitter earnings weren't a disaster](! But it will be hard to [win back interest of advertisers]( who don't believe Twitter is a must-buy. Meanwhile, Instagram [added 100 million new users]( in about the same time Twitter added 9 million.  In the latest startup to get crazy amounts of money to fuel growth (or overspending), Chinese on-demand ride king Didi Chuxing is [near an agreement]( for a fresh investment of $5 billion to $6 billion.  One of Google's co-founders is working on a [flying car](. (Or more of a [Jet Ski with propellers](.) [The other founder has been secretly building a giant airship](.  Amazon is selling [a new Alexa-powered home gadget]( that will tell you if your outfit looks ugly. I opt out of the future.  (Correction: In yesterday's newsletter, we incorrectly stated the nationality of Rutger Bregman. He is Dutch, not Danish.)   Sponsor Content by Insight and Microsoft Insight relies on 25+ years of experience and our 80 Microsoft Certified Professionals to help deliver Microsoft® solutions that meet your business needs and optimize your technology investments. Windows® 10 is designed to boost security, protecting enterprises against the latest cyberthreats. Its advanced features include Device Guard, OneDrive and more. [See the new features in Microsoft Windows 10.](   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022