Winner Take All

Nick and I welcome Jonathan A. Knee onto the show, author of The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Age of Tech Titans. Knee is Professor of Professional Practice and Co-Director of the Media and Technology Program at Columbia Business School and also a Senior Advisor at Evercore Partners.  

At a quick glance, The Platform Delusion appears to stand in opposition to Nick and I's book, Modern Monopolies. Tim Wu describes Jonathan's new book as "a jolting and often hilarious exposure of our delusions that teaches, once again, that the fundamentals of business may not have changed quite as much as you think they have." When we really dig down into Knee's "Core Tenets of the Platform Delusion" and discuss why platforms like Amazon and Google have become so dominant, we find a lot more alignment between Modern Monopolies and The Platform Delusion than one would initially think.  

One area we differ on is whether or not big tech companies are monopolies. We've often criticized U.S. antitrust regulator's focus on consumers while big tech runs rampant taking advantage of producers on platforms e.g. Amazon third-party sellers. For more on this topic, see our recent video on the FTC reshaping its anti competition arguments to take monopsony power into account.  

See more 👀 of our interviews with founders, economists, scholars, and business mavens on this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... 

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I sit down with Salih Hudayar, Prime Minister of the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile. The East Turkistan Government-in-Exile claims to be the sole representation of East Turkistan and its people on the international stage. East Turkestan is an area annexed by the People's Republic of China in 1949 and is officially recognized as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region despite The East Turkistan Government in Exile's calls on the U.S. and other governments to recognize East Turkistan.  

I talked with Salih about his journey establishing the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Xinjiang region. We spoke about how platforms and big tech have impacted communications and organization of the Uyghur people in both positive and negative ways. Hudayar gives us some examples of the double standards he's seen when using monopolized tech offers such as Facebook ads and we comment on a short list of tech companies that have been deemed unsafe for use by political figures like Salih, some examples being Zoom and TikTok.  

Despite the extremely serious nature of what is taking place in East Turkistan/Xinjiang, we do find some reasons to be optimistic and hopeful about progress. Salih notes that Google translate has added the Uyghur language and we speak about the growing population of Americans, and citizens globally, who have become familiar and supportive of Prime Minister Hudayar's mission for East Turkistan.

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See more 👀 of our interviews with founders, economists, scholars, and business mavens on this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... 

Originally Aired: 02/04/22 #Interview #LeastWatchedOlympics #Uyghurs—

The FTC has reshaped its arguments against big tech monopolies and will  now look at potential regulation with monopsony power in mind. Alex and  Nick discuss how this new angle being used by U.S. competition  regulators at the Federal Trade Commission, lead by Biden-appointed FTC  chairwoman Lina Khan, has the potential to actually prove big tech  platforms like Amazon and Google are monopsonies.  

How the FTC Is Reshaping the Antitrust Argument Against Tech Giants: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-ftc-is-reshaping-the-antitrust-argument-against-tech-giants-11643432448  

Originally Aired: 01/31/22 

#Monopsony #BigTech #Antitrust 

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📚 Grab a copy of the Amazon Best Seller Modern Monopolies: https://amzn.com/B017RC8CBC  

At Applico, we identify untapped, intrinsic assets that give existing  enterprises an enormous advantage to spin-out new tech companies.  WisdomTree licensed Applico's Platform Insights Data Product to aid in  the creation of the PLAT ETF.

Alex starts the show looking at a CNBC story that claims ultra-wealthy investors are buying platform stocks as a hedge against inflation in the United States. Next, a look at the unpaid army of moderators that run platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia. Alex analyzes how much power these users hold and whether or not platforms should be paying them. Also covered in this episode, why food delivery platforms are adding in fintech functions and reports that Joe Rogan already hates alt-tech social platform Gettr.  

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#PlatformBusiness #CNBC #Reddit

The episode starts with a look at Microsoft's massive deal to buy Activision Blizzard inc.. Alex breaks down the deal and questions Microsoft's positioning that this deal is a play towards the metaverse. Next, news that Y Combinator will change its standard deal offered to startups in the accelerator to now invest as much as $500,000. We discuss how this change may affect seed investments for YC startups and share some reactions and thoughts from Y Combinator alums that work at Applico. The show closes with a look at increased buying of inflation protected bonds.  

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Originally Aired: 01/18/22

Alex starts the show with a look at the metaverse acquisitions Facebook has been making and whether or not Mark Zuckerberg can just buy Roblox. Next, Alex explains why he loves Rocket Mortgage's move to buy TrueBill, a personal finance suite for users who'd like to track spending and rid themselves of delinquent subscriptions. Also covered, why China is seeing a decline in venture capital investing and the SEC's investigation into Medallion Financial Corp..  

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Originally Aired: 12/30/21

Applico CEO Alex Moazed breaks down platform and platform adjacent companies that are expected to go public in 2022. These companies span multiple spaces and industries including B2B, fintech/payments, food, delivery, eCommerce, buy now pay later, social media, content, and more. Moazed looks at various fundraising by these platforms, current valuations, and gives his thoughts on market fit and IPO timing.  

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Originally Aired: 01/07/22

📚 Grab a copy of the Amazon Best Seller Modern Monopolies: https://amzn.com/B017RC8CBC 

❓ Are you part of a large enterprise interested in spinning out a platform business? Connect with us here: https://resources.applicoinc.com/wta-... 

At Applico, we identify untapped, intrinsic assets that give existing enterprises an enormous advantage to spin-out new tech companies. WisdomTree licensed Applico's Platform Insights Data Product to aid in the creation of the PLAT ETF.

Alex kicks off the episode looking at eBay's changes to how the company will be reporting gross merchandise volume and he breaks down what eBay's claimed immaterial differences between the old and new GMV numbers actually are. Reddit has confidentially filed for IPO and we take a look at how profitable of an investment Reddit could turn out to be for Advance Publications who acquired the platform back in 2006. Also covered, Amazon opening a bookstore for the Chinese Communist Party, Cathie Wood's "promise" that her ARK ETF's will return 40%, and a big milestone in the digitization of the B2B industry. Alex also shares his favorite highlights from Marketplace Pulse's fabulous Marketplaces Year in Review 2021.  

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 Marketplaces Year in Review 2021:https://www.marketplacepulse.com/mark... 

Originally Aired: 12/21/21

The show opens looking at an interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp where he calls out Silicon Valley's reluctance to work with the U.S. government. Alex commends Karp for his criticisms and calls for big tech to have more of a backbone when it comes to supporting the U.S.. Next, discussion of The Information's exposé revealing Apple's clandestine $275 billion investment into China. The show closes with some alt tech news that includes former President Trump's SPAC DWAC (Digital World Acquisition Corp) will partner with Rumble, and a letter from Gab founder Andrew Torba calling out it's alt-tech contemporaries and stating Gab is not for sale.

Originally Aired: 12/07/21

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The episode starts with analysis of a report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance that details how  Amazon has continuously extracted increasing profits from third-party sellers on its marketplace platform. Next, Alex digs into the departure of Jack Dorsey from Twitter and looks at newly appointed CEO Parag Agrawal. Also covered, alt tech video platform Rumble announcing it will go public via a SPAC and Chinese companies delisting from U.S. exchanges. The show ends with a look at Biden confirming a band on Huawei and ZTE products in the United States.

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Originally Aired: 12/03/21