Corporate America’s boycott of Facebook and Beltway rage toward Jeff Bezos haven’t harmed Big Tech’s bottom line. Just one day after being subjected to a slew of fulmination from the House antitrust subcommittee, Bezos’s Amazon, Tim Cook’s Apple, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, and Sundar Pichai’s Google all smashed their earning expectations.
Predictably, Amazon’s sales soared amid global quarantines, and despite the unanticipated $4 billion needed to spend on coronavirus-related expenses, the online retailer posted a staggering $10.30 earnings per share as opposed to the $1.51 that was expected. Facebook posted $1.80 earnings per share as opposed to $1.39 as expected, in large part due to higher user engagement and growth. Coca Cola may be sitting out advertising on the site in objection to Facebook’s refusal to speech police, but users apparently are not.
Despite a global economic contraction, including a 9.5% GDP loss in the United States from the first quarter to the second of this year, Apple sales were up 11%, and its revenue set a record for its third quarter. Even Google, which was hit hard by digital advertising drop-offs, still saw parent company Alphabet beat earnings expectations.
All of which is to say that while government schools failed to implement meaningful distance learning, and government health officials failed to distribute PPE and adequate coronavirus testing, Big Tech managed to exceed consumer and investor demands.
The official consideration of yesterday’s hearing wasn’t whether Bezos has too much money or if Zuckerberg should take down more of Breitbart’s posts. It was supposed to be about antitrust. The House Judiciary Committee did little to prove that any of the companies targeted either have the market power or the market manipulation required to try an antitrust case against them successfully. And, of course, earnings reports that demonstrate companies surpassing investor demands by increasing customer service and satisfaction don’t help.
Amazon helped people successfully socially distance by delivering food and medicine directly to consumers, and according to Thursday’s earnings call, Amazon now delivers half of its own packages, meaning it has become less dependent on other carriers such as the U.S. Postal Service. Its CEO may be the richest one of the four to testify, but when you consider the incredible void it filled? Is it such a surprise?
You can gripe with whether these companies should be taxed more or questioned more about their foreign labor practices. But these are not the dealings of monopolists, and big government ought to realign its approach in recognition of that.
