When the US government opened a high voltage searchlight on Facebook’s Meta, I wrote in a piece titled “Facebook’s Unbreakable Gene”, positing that it would be impossible to break Meta. In 2018, I had stated: “In my opinion, breaking a platform-business within the same mindset of the industrial age companies is a waste of time: one part of that company will grow and dominate just as the previously broken one.”
Where am I going? Unlike industrial age companies like Standard Oil, these digital species of companies are different. Your leverageable factors can disappear due to technology evolution, and the changes could be fast. So, as the government started its work on Meta, within 9 months, the company lost more than $500 billion in its market value – and that investigation stopped.
I wrote another post: how TikTok, Snapchat and other social media companies saved Meta from being broken apart. Now, welcome to Google. With the launch of ChatGPT Search, Google has a solid arsenal to make a case that we’re vulnerable, and the state cannot weaken us further: “On Thursday, OpenAI announced the launch of its new ChatGPT search service, accessible on its website and mobile apps, and could pose the most formidable challenge to Google’s search dominance in years.”
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OpenAI has introduced internet search capabilities within ChatGPT, escalating competition with major tech players like Google. The artificial intelligence startup partnered with news and data providers to offer real-time sports scores, stock quotes, weather and other information. The release comes at a time when Google’s dominant market share in internet search faces threats from AI competitors, as well as antitrust headwinds. Earlier this month, OpenAI closed its latest funding round, raising $6 billion at a valuation of $157 billion. However, it doesn’t expect to reach profitability until 2029, according to The Information, which cited financial documents.
And just like that, ChatGPT Search has paid an insurance premium for Google, that after losing its court case on illegal deals on search boxes with Apple and device makers, Google only needs to just have money in the bank to pay the government, as no one will touch the empire. It would be naive and pure stupidity for anyone to break these digital companies in the age where China continues to ascend!
Good People, sometimes it is good to have some “competitors” in your market to breathe freely when the governments and activists knock.
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