Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon : 2019,the black year of tech giants

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Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon : 2019,the
black year of tech giants

Popular on the stock market, Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook have become the target of regulators and politicians, and even some of their employees. A look back at five key dates that

.marked the year of the four tech giants

The year 2019 was a double-edged sword for Google, Apple, Google and Amazon, aka the Gafa. On the stack side: the small strip is part of the top 6 of world market capitalizations (alongside Aramco and Microsoft) and their price reaches or approaches their historic highs at the end of December

The four of them have a capitalization of over 3.650 billion dollars. Apple alone (1.260 billion) is worth more than the entire American energy sector (Chevron, Exxon Mobil, etc.)! This shows the confidence that the financial markets place in their economic model and their prospects

On the face of it: never has distrust of them been so intense. It is expressed by certain employees and former leaders, but also in public opinion, among politicians and regulators around the world. In recent months, their image has deteriorated. Their “coolness” of facade does not deceive many people and many are those who speak out against their practices and go to war to break their hegemony. Close-up on the five dates that marked this dark year for Gafa.

1) March 8: Elizabeth Warren's call

Elizabeth Warren's March 8 call was not made by radio but by publication on Medium. "It is time to dismantle our largest technology companies," wrote the Democrat Senator, who intends to challenge Trump in 2020, bluntly. "Large technology companies have [...] too much power over our economy, our society and our democracy." A vision shared by Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, and which agitates public opinion in the United States.

In Europe, a certain Margrethe Vestager is not on the same line. However, the one who has already imposed more than 8 billion euros in cumulative fines on Google cannot be called "pro-Gafa". Far from it. But the vice-president of the European Commission, where she acts as a competition policeman, judges that a dismantling would only fragment the interlocutors and divide the problem. Failing to adjust it.

"There is always the risk that after having cut off the head, others will appear," she imagined in early November. But everyone agrees on one point: the Gafa situation cannot remain as it is, the status quo only benefits the small click of the four giants.

2) July 11: The Gafa tax adopted in France

To every lord, every honor: the Gafa are entitled to a tax on their (on) name. First of all: France, whose Parliament adopted this neo-tax in the middle of summer. Designed to circumvent the tax optimization of tech giants, it amounts to 3% of turnover. This concerns digital companies that generate more than 750 million euros in annual global revenue, including 25 million in France.

But the Paris decision provokes an outcry in Washington. In retaliation, the White House threatened, in early December, to impose customs duties of up to 100% on the equivalent of $ 2.4 billion in French products. The message from the Trump administration is clear: do not touch our national champions without agreeing with us.

"We will never give up, never, never, this just desire to tax the digital giants", reacts in the wake, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy. By threatening France, the United States wants to prevent the Gafa tax from spilling over into other nations, before an agreement on the taxation of tech giants has been found within the OECD. But everyone knows: Washington has no intention of approving the OECD project before the elections of November 2020 ... and even after, the uncertainty remains total.

3) July 13: Record fine of $ 5 billion for Facebook

This could be worth Facebook's entry in the Guinness Book. But not sure that we slashed champagne near Menlo Park on June 13. Still ... That day, the FTC fined Facebook $ 5 billion for violating the privacy of its users in the “Cambridge Analytica” scandal. A record for a "tech" company.

Facebook: why Zuckerberg is struggling to convince the refocusing on privacy

At the announcement, Wall Street reacted immediately ... and positively since the Facebook share climbed by almost 2%. Admittedly, the FTC hit hard but does not "break" the economic model of the giant which remains a "cash machine" thanks to its targeted advertisements sold to advertisers.

"When groups can break the law, pay large fines and continue to generate profits, while keeping their economic model intact, the authorities cannot declare victory", tackle, a few weeks later, Rohit Chopra, one Commissioners serving on the FTC. Especially since this sanction, which serves as an example, has not prevented the giant from being caught again in the bag since then.

Personal data: is Apple really the right student?

However, if Facebook is the most pointed out among the Gafa, it is not the only one to flirt with the yellow line. This summer, Amazon, Google and Apple were all implicated for their collection of personal data via their voice assistants (Alexa, Assistant and Siri). Enough to hinder Apple, which is trying to set itself up as herald of privacy protection among the tech giants.

4) September 10: anti-competitive practices in the viewfinder

The fronts are multiplying. In early September, a coalition of American states launched an antitrust investigation against Facebook and Google. On the other side of the Atlantic, the legal framework in force is hotly debated there because anti-competitive practices are judged there and gauged by one criterion: impact on prices. An outdated approach, especially for Facebook and Google.

Still spared in the United States, the latter was subjected in March to a new fine (1.49 billion euros) in Europe for abuse of a dominant position. In France, Google has also just been sentenced by the competition authority to 150 million fines.

In the club of four, Apple must also answer for its practices. In March, Spotify attacked the group in Brussels for abuse of a dominant position. Rival direct from Apple Music, the world leader in music streaming accuses Apple of imposing "discriminatory" prices on consumers on the App Store, its online store where the Spotify application is one of the most downloaded.

5) December 11: Groups that no longer make employees dream

For a long time, the Gafa were perceived as a country of cocagne by and for the employees. Those days are over. In the United States, Google, Facebook and Apple are now in the limbo of the ranking traditionally drawn up at the end of the year by Glassdoor, the rating site for American companies by their employees. For its part, Amazon is not even classified ...

But the evil is deeper. More and more, the Gafa are faced with an almost new phenomenon for them: the social protest of their employees who no longer hesitate to denounce internal politics or oppose certain projects…

At the end of 2018, nearly 20,000 Google employees had demonstrated around the world, indignant at the massive severance packages paid to certain executives accused of sexual assault and harassment. A large-scale protest that was landmark and was followed by other movements at Google this year.

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