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Why compete when we all own index funds? Just use proxies to communicate and sychronize about "industry and sector costs and margins" and take your share. Maybe work a little on cost reductions to look good, and don't rock the boat: So long as investors can be exposed to whole markets and industries without caring about individual winners, there's really only one owner of the publicly traded participents.

Or is that an exaggeration?

Yes. It's something that could happen, but I don't think it already has. The CEO is usually more exposed to their own company than any other.

Another factor is the consumers. They settle on a brand and refuse to try alternatives. Often for good reasons, but it still reduces competition.

Switching "brands" is a false choice when there are 100s of "brands" all owned by the same 4 conglomerates and all coordinating prices.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/...

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/illusion-of-choice-consumer...

it's not a bug, it's a feature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_accumulation#Over-accu...