Dismembering Big Tech
It would please investors, but is unlikely to happen
“FATHER LENNON, have you some money? Buy Standard Oil.” That’s what John D. Rockefeller is said to have told his golf partner, a priest, when he heard the news in 1911 that the Supreme Court had ruled his oil company was to be broken up into 34 smaller firms. It was good advice. Within a few years the value of those firms rose threefold. The net worth of Rockefeller, who owned more than 25% of each, grew from about $300m in 1911 to $900m in 1913, around $23bn in current dollars.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “How to dismantle a monopoly”
From the October 26th 2019 edition
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