Because today's tech landscape harbors multiple giants rather than a single behemoth, regulators trying to restrain the companies' power face a bedeviling challenge: It's tougher to make a "monopoly" charge stick to companies that are busy competing with one another.
Driving the news: This week's double-whammy antitrust suits against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of states comes on the heels of a Department of Justice suit against Google and a broadly damning report from House Democrats, both in October.
Yes, but: While the critique is broad, each antitrust lawsuit must prove a case against a specific company, and that remains daunting.
The big picture: In previous cycles of antitrust enforcement against Microsoft, IBM and others one colossus seemed to control the entire industry's air supply.
The pentopoly's power and reach are unparalleled. Their products and services reach into every corner of our lives:
The pentopoly's combined market cap is now roughly $7 trillion or nearly one-third the total value of the S&P 500.
No company should have this much unchecked power," New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in announcing the states' Facebook suit but the complaint is one regularly heard about all five companies.
The companies say their power is checked by one another. They compete and quarrel in myriad ways:
This tangled web of oligarchic competition places a tough burden on the government's antitrust cases.
Of note: Of the five, Microsoft has most expertly avoided the antitrust spotlight despite its continued power and size. That's probably because the company learned from its experience 20 years ago as a solo target of federal antitrust prosecution.
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Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the combined market value of the five companies is $7 trillion, not $7 billion.
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