The evolution of digital dominance: how and why we got to GAFA

Barwise, T P and Watkins, L (2018) The evolution of digital dominance: how and why we got to GAFA. In: Digital Dominance: The Power of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 21-49. ISBN 9780190845124

Abstract

Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook are now the five most valuable public companies in the world by market capitalization. This is the first time ever that technology (“tech”) companies have so dominated the stock market -- even more than at the end of the 1990s’ Internet bubble. They are a large part of everyday life in developed economies and increasingly elsewhere. They wield enormous power, raising difficult questions about their governance, regulation, and accountability. This chapter is about how and why this came about.