Amazon ($2.3T)? Microsoft ($3.7T)? Meta ($1.8T)?
And even Warren Buffett said that it's unusual for a company to succeed in two different areas, yet Amazon did it.
I would say Meta had only one hit -- social networking. Instagram and Whatsapp were good acquistions, but I think of them more as monopoly plays. Zuck has been investing in VR and AI, looking for the next big thing -- but like Google, he doesn't really know what it is. I'd say it's more driven by a desire to be big and powerful and profitable, than by mission (although of course every case is a mix)
I'd argue that Google also has one hit. Chrome and Android are impressive, but they are not businesses on their own. Self-driving cars didn't turn into a great business.
Google invented transformers, and OpenAI turned it into a product. But neither one got the product + business combo right. OpenAI is very far from profitable, and Gemini looks like a ChatGPT clone to me.
Microsoft is a weird case -- I'd argue that they were second in most of their hits:
- Windows - the GUI desktop was second to Apple
- Enterprise software - Excel was second to Lotus; Word was second to WordPerfect; databases were second to Oracle
- Cloud - Azure was second to Amazon
- Bing - was second to Google
I think Microsoft got to $3T by operational competence -- by cloning and embrace and extend, as opposed to nailing a new hit product + the associated business.
I would give them credit for the early BASIC and OS, but I don't think that's how they reached $3T. Whereas Google basically reached $2T with search+ads, and Meta with social networking.
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To summarize my off the cuff theory, which I admit you can poke holes in:
- Apple, Amazon, Nvidia: nailed a hit product + associated business combo TWICE
- Google, Meta: nailed it ONCE (and they are younger companies, so to be charitable, they may not have had time)
- Microsoft: a special case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by...
..there are some other interesting companies to consider:
Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, TMSC, PetroChina, Berkshire Hathaway
If you build large eCommerce like Amazon then of course you need huge IT infrastructure for it. Amazon was kind of forced to build the IT infrastructure and in that process Bezos saw another business opportunity because not every smaller company can easily build large IT infrastructure but many companies need it. And just as AWS built "SW services" for Amazon eCommerce it also became the foundation of the cloud business.
Microsoft - Programming Language (1975), Operating Systems (1981), Office Suite (1983)
Meta - Facebook (2004), Instagram (2010)
I would argue microsoft is unique because of how badly IBM screwed up.
EEE and owning the soul of every customer
Facebook and cool zuck