During the Facebook hearing on Capitol Hill, US Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) threw a question to Mark Zuckerberg: “Mr. Zuckerberg, quite a story, right? Dorm room to the global behemoth that you guys are,” he began. “Only in America, would you guys agree with that?”
Mark Zuckerberg’s response: “Senator, mostly in America.” The senator pushed further, “You couldn’t do this is China, right?”
Zuckerberg’s response. “Well, uh….well, senator, there are some very strong Chinese Internet companies.”
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China is innovating as I have noted in this blog. It is a very great competitor to U.S. Mark knew that and the American mantra of “Only in America” fell that time. That is awareness.
They keep popping everywhere you go: China is eating the world. Some big numbers courtesy of Fortune Newsletter:
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China now accounts for a whooping 42% of global commerce – more than France, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. combined.
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Mobile payments are now used by 68% of China’s Internet users and totaled $790 billion last year — 11 times more than in the U.S.
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China’s venture capital industry has exploded from $12 billion, or 6 percent of the global total, in 2011–13, to $77 billion, or 19 percent of the worldwide total, in 2014–16. China leads the U.S. in fintech venture investment.
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The BAT companies – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent – provide 42 percent of the venture funding in China, compared to the 5 percent provided in the U.S. by the FANG companies – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google.
We need people like Mark who can redeem Nigeria even when our leaders cannot figure things out. That is the message. The senator was off by miles. But the American tech is aware that it is no more “only in America”, but “mostly in America”. They do hope that “mostly” stays longer and that way.
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This is a powerful message. It’s the power of awareness. And it’s instructive. China is not joking around. The US government needs to be aware, just as its tech players are. Thanks for sharing, Prof.
Awesome – we need to rise like Zucks