Big Tech Perfect Storm: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, & Google (video)

Big Tech's Perfect Storm

Big Tech Perfect Storm: Apple $AAPL, Amazon $AMZN, Facebook $FB, Google $GOOG $GOOGL - L2inc.com video published Sep 28, 2017, featuring Scott Galloway on Digital Winners and Losers:

 "Society treats Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google as a universal good. But how do we pay our soldiers, firefighters, and teachers if a firm can ascend to $468 billion in value -- fifth in the world -- without paying any meaningful corporate taxes?" 

Slides:

Sources:
(0:38) L2 Analysis of Amazon 10Ks and Walmart Annual Reports.
(0:48) “Amazon Market Cap History (AMZN),” macrotrends, September 2017. http://bit.ly/2xBBvls
(0:48) YCharts, September 2017. http://bit.ly/2uWnj2y (0:59) “Amazon Market Cap History (AMZN),” macrotrends, September 2017. http://bit.ly/2xBBvls
(1:01) “Largest Companies by Market Cap Today,” Dogs of the Dow, September 2017. http://bit.ly/2cziOG2
(2:26) “The Fortune 500’s 10 Most Profitable Companies,” Fortune, June 2017. http://for.tn/2sD2CaG
(3:09) StatCounter Global Stats, August 2017.
(3:14) Alphabet's 2016 10-K Filing and Zenith.
(3:33) “Google’s EU Fine Is a Small Price to Pay for Scale,” The Wall Street Journal. June 2017. http://on.wsj.com/2wakRWL

Song -  MISSIO - Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea

YouTube.com auto-generated transcript:
00:01  we talk a lot about the four and the
00:03  preferred treatment they receive Apple
00:06  Amazon Facebook and Google by Wall
00:09  Street our government and our society we
00:12  engage in a gross idolatry of innovators
00:14  that has reached a tipping point the
00:16  perfect storm is growing around the
00:18  floor and society is beginning to
00:20  regurgitate on the notion that these
00:22  firms are at Universal good and some
00:24  their perceptions or their images are
00:26  moving from chicken salad to chicken
00:29  s_it it appears that we have had enough
00:32  some stats Amazon since 2008 Walmart has
00:36  paid sixty four billion dollars in
00:37  corporate income tax well amazon has
00:39  paid 1.4 billion this despite the fact
00:42  that in the last 24 months amazon has
00:46  added the entire market capitalization
00:48  of wal-mart to its value the most
00:51  uncomfortable question in business and
00:53  my view is how do we pay our soldiers
00:55  firefighters and teachers if a firm can
00:58  ascend to four hundred and sixty billion
00:59  dollars in value fifth most in the world
01:02  without paying any meaningful corporate
01:04  taxes and now mayors are tripping over
01:07  each other throwing tax breaks and
01:09  abatements to get Amazon to open their
01:11  second headquarters in their city every
01:14  mayor wants to detonate a prosperity
01:16  bomb in the city square however what's
01:18  more likely to happen is an Olympic like
01:21  bidding intoxication where there's a lot
01:23  of high-fives and celebration for 12
01:25  months followed by years of economic
01:27  analysis and hangover that this was a
01:30  bad deal what should Amazon do they
01:34  should starts their hat white become a
01:35  better citizen pick Detroit and
01:38  revitalized the Metro and invest in
01:40  education and Riaan gauging and re
01:43  employing some of the engineers laid off
01:45  in the auto industry Apple we have our
01:48  religion our new Jesus Christ has Steve
01:50  Jobs the iPhone X should be called the
01:53  iPhone cross we've decided the iPhone is
01:55  holier than any other object someone
01:58  gets thrown into a trunk
01:59  you can get a court order to search that
02:00  car but don't try and search the iPhone
02:03  that's holier at Apple's recent product
02:06  unveiled the company's head of retail
02:07  Angela Aaron said the company no longer
02:09  refers to its shops as stores we call
02:12  them towns
02:14  that's like calling the playground at
02:17  Grace Church that wanted to charge my
02:18  kid 48 thousand dollars a year to play
02:21  with blocks
02:22  Central Park what bullshit this company
02:25  is the most profitable firm in the world
02:26  and they deserve that but they have
02:28  decided that privacy laws no longer
02:30  apply to them
02:32  Facebook arguably the most successful
02:34  media company of the last 20 years has
02:37  simply put become Putin's bitch they
02:40  need to overcorrect and take
02:41  responsibility and thus far the response
02:43  has been underwhelming with the social
02:45  platform citing concerns about
02:46  censorship and saying they can't be an
02:48  arbiter of truth02:49this isn't about censorship it's not
02:52  about free speech it's about you
02:54  refusing to inject friction and cost
02:57  into your scalable business model this
02:59  will be complex and it will be expensive
03:01  so is democracy Google the search engine
03:05  enjoys 90% plus sheriffs search across
03:08  many of its largest markets and search
03:10  is now a bigger business than the entire
03:12  ad market of any nation with the
03:15  exception of the US are we comfortable
03:17  with one for-profit entity getting to
03:19  decide the answers to 90% of the queries
03:22  posed to our modern God search our
03:25  governments have implicitly communicated
03:27  to these firms with their fines that are
03:29  the equivalent of a 25 cent parking
03:32  ticket that the smart thing to do the
03:34  shareholder driven thing to do is to
03:36  break the law before need to get out
03:39  ahead of this issue fast that's wrapping
03:41  themselves in a neon blue pink or
03:43  rainbow blanket as an illusionist trick
03:45  to distract people from the belief that
03:48  they validated an age-old truth power
03:51  corrupts the worm has turned

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TechReView: US Votes For Change, Silicon Valley Shell-Shocked (video)

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Feature • There's no way to sugarcoat what happened in the U.S. Presidential election: Entrepreneur and VC Peter Thiel, ridiculed and shunned in Silicon Valley for supporting Trump, emerged early Wednesday morning completely vindicated. Meanwhile, most of the Valley, which had joined the media and political establishment in heavily supporting, financially and otherwise, a baggage-laden candidate promising "more of the same," lost. For background see Clinton’s Coziness With Silicon Valley: More Troubling Than Her Wall Street Ties | TheFiscalTimes.com.

The biggest losers? Probably those wealthy tech insiders whose power stretches all the way to inside the beltway: Eric Schmidt (Google) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon).

Schmidt and Google had worked behind the scenes, until exposed by Wikileaks, to put Clinton in the White House. Bezos owns the Washington Post which had joined the free-for-all anti-Trump cacophony which dominated establishment media (TV, newspapers, online) reporting on the election. Even worse for the Clinton cabal, they were deceived by data--the media pollsters' defective methodologies proved once again the old tech adage--garbage in, garbage out:  

"Shell-Shocked"

Trump’s Data Team Saw a Different America—and They Were Right | Bloomberg.com: "How Team Trump Used Data to Win ... “Hillary Clinton was the perfect foil for Trump’s message,” says Steve Bannon, his campaign chief executive officer. “From her e-mail server, to her lavishly paid speeches to Wall Street bankers, to her FBI problems, she represented everything that middle-class Americans had had enough of”... “In the last week before the election, we undertook a big exercise to reweight all of our polling, because we thought that who [pollsters] were sampling from was the wrong idea of who the electorate was going to turn out to be this cycle,” says Matt Oczkowski, the head of product at London firm CambridgeAnalytica.org and team leader on Trump’s campaign. “If he was going to win this election, it was going to be because of a Brexit-style mentality and a different demographic trend than other people were seeing.”"

To top it all off, #TrumpTrain utilized the tools developed by Silicon Valley, from Twitter to Facebook to Instagram to Reddit to YouTube, to overcome the false narratives and fake news emanating from the political and media establishment.

What now? Two words: antitrust and taxes. For eight years, the Obama administration has been running interference for U.S. tech behemoths utilizing offshore tax avoidance schemes as well as flaunting antitrust regulations, most notably in the European Union. While Trump may pass a tax bill that gives an opening for U.S. companies to repatriate their billions in profits trapped offshore, don't expect Trump to condone, much less run interference for, tax avoidance schemes utilized by the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple, et al. Nor is Trump likely to look away from antitrust violations, in the U.S. or abroad, by the tech giants, having already said Amazon has an antitrust problem. Google has antitrust problems as well. So does the AT&T-Time Warner deal. They're all vulnerable now due to their arrogant abuse of dominant market positions and political power. They didn't hedge their bets, and now, Trump owes them nothing.

Other Takes:

•  Silicon Valley Reels After Trump’s Election | NYTimes.com: "In private, during the campaign, many tech leaders were positive that their vision would prevail over Mr. Trump’s. When asked about whether they were preparing in any way for a Trump victory, bigwigs at many of the industry’s leading tech and financial firms were bemused by the notion. They thought it would never happen. The deeper worry is that tech is out of step with the national and global mood, and failed to recognize the social and economic anxieties roiling the nation — many of them hastened by the products the industry devises."

•  Peter Thiel Said to Join Trump’s Presidential Transition Team | Bloomberg.com--"Thiel to vet appointees, prioritize policies, people say eliminating waste, decreasing debt likely to top list--Venture capitalist Peter Thiel will join President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition team, a move that solidifies the Facebook Inc. board member’s power and could help Silicon Valley have a say in the next administration ..."

•  Jeff Bezos, who once joked about sending Trump to space, changes tune | USAtoday.com

•  Trump meets with Obama at the White House as whirlwind transition starts | WashingtonPost.com

•  3 Things Startups Can Learn From the Donald Trump Victory | AfricaStartUpLab.com

Other Tech News:

•  Alibaba's Alipay Takes On Apple Pay And PayPal On Their USA Home Turf: "... DFS Group inked a deal with Ant Financial to launch Alipay at San Francisco International Airport. Retailers around the world are also eager to embrace Alipay in order to court Chinese spenders. Alipay is now accepted at British luxury department stores Harrods and Selfridges. Before long, it will be at Macy's or Nordstrom. What's alarming is that Alipay seems to have no contenders. Apple Pay, PayPal, or any other U.S. payment service provider, powerlessly watched Alipay's whirlwind foray around the world and into the U.S. market without making any attempt to combat it. Their lack of action presents a startling contrast to Alipay's breakneck development."--SeekingAlpha.com

•   Alibaba Tops Singles’ Day Record as Chinese Consumers Rally: "Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. broke its Singles’ Day sales record with room to spare, offering assurances about the strength of the Chinese consumer despite the nation’s economic slowdown."--Bloomberg.com

•  Russia to Block LinkedIn after Court Ruling: Russian lawmakers passed new rules last year that required any personal digital data on Russian citizens collected by companies to be stored within the country.--NYTimes.com

•  Tech stocks drop as Wall Street focuses on Trump stimulus--Reuters.com
•  Google lawyer says Android helps rather than harms competition--Reuters.com
•  Tesla buys Germany's Grohmann Engineering, to assist electric car production--Reuters.com
•  Ireland to formally submit appeal on Apple case--Reuters.com

•  Broadcom lines up $6.5 billion bridge loan for Brocade buy--Reuters.com

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Day After Brexit Vote Eurocrats Lost, Market Recovery, Path Forward

UPDATE June 30, 2016: London Stock Exchange benchmark FTSE100 still rocketing UP:

UPDATE June 29, 2016: Contrary to the "Chicken Little" reports from the media and establishment, the FTSE100, the benchmark index of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (as measured by market capitalization) has completely recovered and is now higher than before the Brexit vote:

The London Stock Exchange FTSE100 Comes Roaring Back (source: google.com)

UPDATE June 26, 2016: Contrary to media reports following the Brexit vote, Reuters reports polling indicates Scots do not favor another referendum on separating from the UK. See also News Review: Brexit ... | DomainMondo.com (June 26, 2016):

"There is a lot more to come in this drama beyond just the voting results. It is now clear that Boris Johnson and David Cameron are "on the same page" and there will be no immediate trigger of Article 50. Instead, the clever British intend to use the leverage of their voter mandate to squeeze the EU aristocracy for concessions that will give the UK almost everything it wants, and a status no other country, in or out of the EU, now has."

Brexit does not make UK 'less European' says Boris Johnson:

Video above: Boris Johnson said Friday the UK vote to leave the EU gives Britons a 'glorious opportunity' to take control over its own taxes and borders. All UK politicians 'should thank British people' who 'did their job' dealing with one of the toughest questions of all time. The EU "was a noble idea for its time; it is no longer right for this country" said Johnson. Published June 24, 2016.

Brexit fallout? Britain will be fine, but the EU may have reason to worry: 

Ignore the noise, distraction, and hysterics of headlines and cable news. Here's a snapshot of what really happened the day after the Brexit vote:

Below is an email sent Friday (June 24, 2016) by the CEO of a major global company headquartered in London to all employees following the EU referendum vote in the UK on Thursday to withdraw from the European Union:

Dear Colleagues, I am writing to share some immediate thoughts in the light of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. These are clearly uncertain times for the UK and for Europe. _____’s view throughout the campaign was that the UK was better off within the EU. Of course we fully respect the democratic decision that has been taken and, for _____, we will now focus on forging a successful path in a new context. _____ is in a strong position. More than half of our revenues are from the US, in dollars. We have a solid balance sheet with low debt, and this will enable us to weather uncertainties. Although we care deeply about the UK, we are the world’s _____ company. We will continue to be advocates for a world that is more open and connected. It is vital that the UK’s world class universities should continue to attract the brightest young people from around the world to enrich our _____ community. For now, the important thing for us all is to stay focused on our business and our customers. We will take our time and work through every implication of our business and our growth. We will also will play our part in helping maintain the outward-looking United Kingdom and globally connected _____ community that are in the interests of us all. (emphasis added)

Markets' reactions (from Thursday close to Friday close--see charts below):
FTSE100 (UK): -2.71%
SP500 (US): -3.58%
DAX (Germany): -6.69%
CAC40 (France): -7.85%

Clockwise: Benchmark Stock Market Indexes for UK (FTSE100), France (CAC40), Germany (DAX) and US (S&P500)
Week of June 20-24, 2016 (source: google.com)

Clearly, the French and German markets took a much harder tumble, while the markets in London showed resilience and recovery by the end of the market close on Friday. Investors have reason to worry about the European Union (EU). The EU has a lot of problems that will only be worse without the UK--problems that are not going to go away--long-term economic decline, aging populations, fiscal and monetary issues and economic imbalances caused by the single currency (euro), and a continuing refugee crisis. Is it any wonder that Switzerland formally withdrew its long-dormant application to become a member of the EU last week? Haughty Eurocrats may regret their undermining David Cameron's campaign to "Remain."

Much is yet to be done, and as economist Martin Wolf says in the video below, Britain, the world's 5th biggest economy, is the most important market for the Eurozone. As for Wolf's reference to the "consequences of uncertainty," remember what Warren Buffett says:

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful.”

Note accordingly, Martin Wolf's reference to investors snatching up assets in the UK:

Video above published by FT.com on June 24, 2016 - Brexit: Economist Martin Wolf  - economic forecast | FT Comment.

See also on Domain Mondo:

• Brexit Vote Results LIVE, UK Votes to Leave EU, What Happens Next?
• Brexit: Will UK Vote to Leave or Remain in the European Union? (video)
• Brexit: EU Referendum Was A Terrible Mistake by David Cameron (video)

.feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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ICANN a Steward? LOL! This Is How ICANN Wastes Registrants' Money

UPDATE (emphasis added) [CCWG-ACCT] See Photos from Last Night's AFRALO Showcase/Fadi Tribute in #ICANN55:

Dear Eberhard,
Thank you for your question. The Afralo showcase and tribute to Fadi was held on Monday night. The 2 purposes were combined so that they don’t conflict on the schedule and to save logistics and costs. The entire event cost approximately $106,000 to ICANN which was planned for 1200 people. The Afralo showcase (musicians, dancers,…) was paid for by Afralo. In case of interest, ICANN has previously held a community farewell cocktail for exiting CEOs at their last meeting. The cost of this is typically between $50,000 and $60,000. The additional $40,000 we had to pay this time was for the fitted out marquee including AV. This was required on this particular occasion as no other room large enough to accommodate the entire community was available. I hope this is helpful and addresses your question.
Best,
Xavier Calvez
CFO, ICANN

"Thank you very much.
I am shocked at the amount of money ICANN has to waste.
That does put the pressure being applied with regards to funding of WS2
into perspective.
greetings, el"  [Dr Eberhard W Lisse]

[--end of UPDATE--]

From the CCWG-Accountability public email list: [CCWG-ACCT] See Photos from Last Night's AFRALO Showcase/Fadi Tribute in #ICANN55:

"Xavier [Xavier Calvez, ICANN CFO],
I have received the below.
How much did this extravaganza cost ICANN?
greetings, el"
[Dr Eberhard W Lisse - CCWG-Accountability member, representing ccNSO, from the African Region]

"Camels, Drummers And Hundreds of ICANNers: Last Night's AFRALO Showcase And Fadi Tribute Was A Hit!

"Monday's night Tribute to Fadi was a lively affair. Hundreds of ICANN55 participants filled the Orion Tent at the Palmeraie Golf Palace and Resort to enjoy the food, hear traditional Moroccan music and honor Fadi Chehadé's legacy.  Many took to the stage during the evening's festivities including: El Mountassir Billah Azdine, Director General of the National Agency for Regulation of Telecommunications; Xiaodong Lee, CEO & CTO, China Internet Network Information Center; Demi Getschko, Member of the Board, Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Rinalia Abdul Rahim, ICANN Board Member  and Board Chair Steve Crocker. If you didn't get a chance to take your own camel selfie, you can download last night's photos from ICANN's Flickr account here."--source: ICANN55 newsletter (links added)

The "Fadi" referred to is Fadi Chehade, ICANN's outgoing President & CEO, who gave notice last year that he was quitting ICANN with 2 years left on his contract, and after having served only 2 1/2 years (with a salary+benefits package in the range of $1,000,000+ annually).

Domain Mondo is sure that all domain name registrants worldwide (who fund the bulk of ICANN's wasteful spending), and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz et al, will all be interested to see how ICANN is such a "good steward" of money. Wait until ICANN is no longer subject to U.S. government oversight when the IANA stewardship transition is finished!

Here is an ICANN tweet from last night's "Tribute to Fadi"--

Packed tent at #ICANN55 Fadi Tribute! Happening now at Orion. pic.twitter.com/C7VjWjPEkt

— ICANN (@ICANN) March 7, 2016

Does anyone wonder what would happen if a government official in the U.S. spent taxpayer funds like ICANN officers and directors spend registrants' taxes fees? How about officers and directors of a publicly listed Fortune 500 corporation who engaged in this kind of corporate waste?

It is important to know what YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to Discuss @ #ICANN55
Never compare #ICANN to BELL CALIFORNIA https://t.co/V7o8JF2khz #OOS

— Techno.CAT.® (@Techno_CAT_R) March 8, 2016

See also on Domain Mondo:

• US Senators Cruz, Lankford, Lee's New Letter to ICANN Chairman re: China
• After Wuzhen, Should ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Be Fired?
• US Congressman Tells ICANN CEO To 'Abandon' IANA Transition
• What Caused ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé To Quit?
• GNSO Calls for Independent Accountability Body to Oversee ICANN
• ICANN Exists for Itself and Insiders, to Exploit Domain Name Registrants
• ICANN Intends to Become Accountable, Too Little Too Late?
• The REAL Domain Hogs: ICANN Officers, Staff, Lavish Pay, Benefits, Accountability Risks Institutionalized

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Google Tax Deal, The Global Showdown Coming Over Taxes (video)

Above: Google tax deal heralds global showdown | FT Comment - Published Jan 28, 2016

• Google tax: David Cameron defends £130m UK tax deal - BBC News Google agreed to pay £130m of tax dating back to 2005 to HMRC, which said it was the "full tax due in law". But European MPs have described it as a "very bad deal" and Labour said it amounted to a 3% tax rate.
• European Commission to examine Google’s UK tax deal - FT.com
• EU mulls probe of U.K. Google tax deal as Italy investigates - San Jose Mercury News: "Ricardo Cardoso, spokesman for EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, said that "we will look into it and then decide where to move from there.""

Google it and see the maelstrom brewing, or check out Twitter:

Google has cleverly planted dozens of their people in White House, Downing St, other governments.
Most brilliant new lobbying effort yet.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 27, 2016

Tech tax breaks facilitated by politicians easily awed by Valley ambassadors like Google chairman Schmidt eg, posh boys in Downing St.@

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 27, 2016

Global tech companies making enormous profits most places, funnelling $$ thru tax havens. Unless stopped will ruin local businesses who pay.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 27, 2016

Google et al broke no tax laws. Now paying token amounts for p r purposes. Won't work. Need strong new laws to pay like the rest of us.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 27, 2016

Tweets about "Google tax deal"

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