The Hidden Monopolies of the World

 Monopolies are all around us in the world, and not all of them are  obvious on the surface level like Google and Facebook. For example, you might be searching for hotel rooms and browse multiple "competing" sites like Travelocity, Trivago, or Hotel.com. What you most likely do not know however, is that all three websites are actually all owned by the same company; Expedia group. This illusion of free choice is used to hide the fact that Expedia essentially hold a monopoly over the industry and all hotel bookings actually go through them. These fake competitors which are all owned by Expedia Group controls 75% of the US online travel agency industry,

Similarly, apple fans and Microsoft fans stubbornly stick to their respective brands of computers; not knowing that the laptops all come from the same Chinese manufacturer. Throughout all types of industries such as the ones listed earlier and others such as smartphones, supermarkets, beer, and even sunglasses, hidden parent companies actually control the entirety of the market through smaller, fake competing businesses.

This concept of illusory competition when in reality only 1 or 2 large companies have a stranglehold of the entire market is a win win for the businesses. This is because they get the benefits of a monopoly, but also are not labelled a monopoly by the majority of consumers and rarely face the backlash a company of that size gets from controlling such a large market share. What companies are now doing is providing consumers the false idea that they are finding the best deal among competitors, when in reality no matter where one goes they are ultimately supporting the same parent enterprise.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20190322/hidden-monopolies-that-may-cost-you-money
https://www.cracked.com/article_18845_6-secret-monopolies-you-didnt-know-run-world.html

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 25, 2019 at 10:28 AM

    This article is interesting because although people are afraid of monopolies forming in the tech industry as a result of the growth of companies such as Google and Microsoft, but these monopolies are not really known. The concept of making competitors with different domains but all by the same company is interesting, because if has limited cost for the company such as Expedia, which already has lots of experience making hotel finding sites, and it attracts much more people who don't want to use Travelocity but are fine with using Trivago. This is somewhat similar to hotel chains that have different types of hotels with different names, as they appear to be different but are owned by the same company.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 26, 2019 at 5:45 PM

    Really interesting article! This just shows how people in general, especially giant corporations, will constantly find ways around all the rules and regulations that prevent them from the benefits they would receive if they were a monopoly. These fake competitors are able to easily trick the general public because nobody really cares much to do the research of where their product comes from, as long as they believe they are getting the best deal available on the product.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 27, 2019 at 7:56 PM

    I believe that this type of hidden monopolization can be very dangerous, especially in the case of the media. The media is (or at least was at the time of my article) essentially an oligopoly, controlled by 6 companies. Although this isn't a monopoly, it's pretty close, and the dangers of a monopoly are not too different from the dangers of such an oligopoly. If these 6 companies control most of the media, what stops them from controlling how the public thinks or acts, by feeding certain types of content or pushing a specific agenda? I think the main problem with the current media companies is their reach. If another competitor comes up, the big 6 companies have massive resources that they can use to take over the competitor, controlling the playing field.

    Source: https://www.morriscreative.com/6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america/

    ReplyDelete

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