Gafam in 2020: surge in the stock market and soaring disputes
Audio 04:07
The 5 American companies today weigh 8 trillion dollars on the stock market.
© Getty Image
By: Pauline Gleize Follow
9 min
This month of December is a reflection of what 2020 was for digital companies: very contrasted.
The Gafams, in particular (Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft), are increasingly powerful.
These giants are also increasingly contested.
On the pile side: the tech sector is one of the big winners from the Covid-19 epidemic.
Publicity
Logical effect of physical distancing, consumption and social link are reported on the Web.
So the Gafam and their Chinese counterparts like Baidu and Alibaba, already powerful before the crisis, became omnipresent.
The five American companies today weigh 8 trillion dollars on the stock market.
It is about three times the French GDP.
On Wall Street, stocks have soared.
+ 74% for Apple since the start of the year.
Same order of magnitude for Amazon, whose turnover soared in the third quarter.
Google records a 31% increase in its share.
Also in New York, the share of Chinese Alibaba has climbed 23% since January 1.
Another company has particularly fared well. Having become a staple of teleworking, meetings and cyberaperos, the title Zoom posted an increase of nearly 500%.
2020 is also a record year for IPOs.
Among the arrivals this month, DoorDash, a food delivery and home grocery offering, made an impression, taking 86% on the first day before losing a little.
Despite a sharp decline in its activity since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, AirBnB has stormed into the Nasdaq.
The price of its share has more than doubled from the price of its IPO.
Lawsuits
The flip side of the coin is an increasingly strong protest.
The growing weight of digital giants worries more and more.
This Wednesday, December 16, the Attorney General of Texas announced that he had initiated legal proceedings against Google.
It is supported by a dozen other states.
The search engine is accused of anti-competitive practices in the management of its advertisements.
In October, the US government had already filed a complaint and accused the group of maintaining an "
illegal monopoly
" on online research and advertising.
Last week, Facebook was in the sights of the US Competition Commission, and prosecutors in 48 states and territories.
The social network is accused of abusing its dominant position to oust competition.
The competition commission asks, among other things, the justice to force Facebook to separate from two of its flagships, WhatsApp and Instagram.
The Gafa bosses were also summoned to explain themselves this summer to Congress.
The House of Representatives anti-trust committee has proposed to change the law.
"
Digital act
" in Europe, anti-monopoly bill in China
On the old continent, after years of chasing after Gafa offenses, Brussels is now also relying on an adaptation of the regulations.
The European Union presented this week a “
digital act
” to limit their practices.
This bill provides for a series of obligations and prohibitions accompanied by heavy fines for breach of up to 6% or even 10% of turnover.
Some of these rules will apply to so-called “
systemic
”
platforms
.
Meet the criteria, the Gafam, but not only.
The Chinese Alibaba and Bytedance, Tiktok's parent company, would be concerned.
Moreover, China also has its own digital giants in the crosshairs.
Last month, Beijing released a bill aimed at avoiding monopoly behavior by internet platforms.
Anger of civil society ... but consumer enthusiasm
With regard to Gafam, the risk of dismantling is limited.
In Europe, Bruno Le Maire was in any case said "
skeptical
" last month.
In the United States, until now, IT players have escaped it despite attempts against IBM and then Microsoft.
The Gafam are also increasingly criticized by civil society, but are not really shunned.
Facebook was boycotted by a hundred brands in July who accused it of not fighting enough against racist comments.
A campaign that did not cause major economic damage.
Another example, with Amazon.
In France, the e-commerce site is the subject of a boycott call.
Several demonstrations have been organized in recent weeks against his development projects.
This did not prevent its French branch from breaking sales records during “
Black Friday
”.
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