The Age of Big Tech

In 2022, there’s little argument that the GAFAM group, i.e. Google (Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (Meta), Amazon and Microsoft, is shaping our lives in ways that few companies have before it. Sure, there have always been giant consumer companies with a global footprint, but Coca-Cola will never play as big a role in our day-to-day lives as the iPhone does, nor will a Big Mac change the entire political landscape and possibly influence elections the way that Facebook has.

But while it may feel that way, that hasn’t always been the case. Rewind just 22 years and Apple was still a niche computer company with a passionate but relatively small following. Amazon was far from “the everything store” and Mark Zuckerberg was a 16-year-old high school student rather than a tech billionaire repeatedly testifying in front of Congress.

The GAFAM group is not only extremely influential, however, but also making a lot of money. Our latest Racing Bars show how the companies’ annual sales have surged over the past two decade with Apple’s sales increasing more than 45-fold between 2000 and 2021.