The Disrupters (Silicon Valley elite)

[endicom]

City Journal
Gregory Ferenstein
Winter 2017

In just ten years, Facebook built a global empire that surpassed General Electric in market value—and did it with just 4 percent of the Old Economy giant’s workforce: 12,000, compared with 300,000. Whatsapp, a recent Facebook acquisition, managed an even more impressive wealth-to-labor ratio, with a $19 billion value and just 55 employees. Combined, both companies reach roughly one-sixth of humanity. Facebook’s entertainment colleague just to the south, Netflix, crushed Blockbuster’s mammoth national network of 9,000 stores and 60,000 employees with its more nimble workforce of just 3,700 employees. It’s easy to see why: for just $10 a month, Netflix consumers could enjoy an unlimited video library larger than any of Blockbuster’s retail shops, without ever having to find their car keys. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.

More... https://www.city-journal.org/html/disrupters-14950.html


Fairly long. Gives insight into how these wunderkind plan our future lives.

[Fishrrman]

"Gives insight into how these wunderkind plan our future lives."

I read most of the article.

I wonder if we'd all be better off if Silicon Valley and the "wunderkind" who inhabit it... just slipped into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared...

[endicom]

"Gives insight into how these wunderkind plan our future lives."

I read most of the article.

I wonder if we'd all be better off if Silicon Valley and the "wunderkind" who inhabit it... just slipped into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared...

I think they make the classic mistake of imagining that history ends with them. I expect that times will change to leave their imaginings in the dust.

[truth_seeker]

I am old, but I have enjoyed Netflix, Facebook, Bluetooth, Pandora, smartphones, personal computers, refrigerators, frozen foods, indoor plumbing, hot clean water, color TV, internal combustion engines, electric lights, etc.

One thing that I enjoy more is good music. Live or played back from recordings.

Sitting around, just complaining that things do change, is what some do in their older years.

God Grant Me the Serenity to Accept the Things I Cannot Change, the Courage to Change the Things I Can, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I am old, but I have enjoyed Netflix, Facebook, Bluetooth, Pandora, smartphones, personal computers, refrigerators, frozen foods, indoor plumbing, hot clean water, color TV, internal combustion engines, electric lights, etc.

One thing that I enjoy more is good music. Live or played back from recordings.

Sitting around, just complaining that things do change, is what some do in their older years.

God Grant Me the Serenity to Accept the Things I Cannot Change, the Courage to Change the Things I Can, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference.

 

[Joe Wooten]

City Journal
Gregory Ferenstein
Winter 2017

In just ten years, Facebook built a global empire that surpassed General Electric in market value—and did it with just 4 percent of the Old Economy giant’s workforce: 12,000, compared with 300,000. Whatsapp, a recent Facebook acquisition, managed an even more impressive wealth-to-labor ratio, with a $19 billion value and just 55 employees. Combined, both companies reach roughly one-sixth of humanity. Facebook’s entertainment colleague just to the south, Netflix, crushed Blockbuster’s mammoth national network of 9,000 stores and 60,000 employees with its more nimble workforce of just 3,700 employees. It’s easy to see why: for just $10 a month, Netflix consumers could enjoy an unlimited video library larger than any of Blockbuster’s retail shops, without ever having to find their car keys. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.

More... https://www.city-journal.org/html/disrupters-14950.html


Fairly long. Gives insight into how these wunderkind plan our future lives.

Facebook's true value is vastly over-inflated. They have nothing physical to show as assets except for a few servers.

[GtHawk]

"Gives insight into how these wunderkind plan our future lives."

I read most of the article.

I wonder if we'd all be better off if Silicon Valley and the "wunderkind" who inhabit it... just slipped into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared...

Bond made a grave error when he stopped Max Zorin.

[jmyrlefuller]

If there is anything driving the explosion in income and wealth inequality, it is this.

One has access to billions of potential customers, and can serve them with a barebones workforce and overhead. As long as the market's cornered early, it's all of the benefits with far less risk.