America's Concentration Crisis

Google (Alphabet) had a whopping 91% share of the $59.7 billion market (revenue) for search engines in 2017. In the social media category, Facebook had 72% of the $25.6 billion share of revenue from social networking sites. In e-commerce, Amazon had a 49% share of the $525.9 billion revenue pie, followed by eBay at 7%. 

Locating data on how few companies control individual markets, though, has long been difficult, and not by accident. Although Americans used anti-monopoly policies throughout much of the 20th century to preserve competition, a shift in ideology in the late 1970s allowed increased monopolization across the economy. To shield this pro-corporate turn from the public, the government halted the collection and publication of industry concentration data in 1981. To remedy this gap in public knowledge, Open Markets purchased extensive, up-to-date industry intelligence from IBISWorld, a team of analysts who collect economic and market data, with the intention of releasing the information regarding industry concentration to the public. Our hope is that these startling numbers will accelerate action to re-establish the choice, competition, and liberty upon which our democracy depends.