Business | Survival guide

The plucky firms that are beating big tech

Garmin, Dropbox and MercadoLibre show carving out a lucrative niche is possible

An illustration of three small flower pots with flowers growing in the centre of the image with very large flower pots either side casting shadows over them.
Image: Vincent Kilbride

BIG TECH keeps getting bigger. So far this year the combined market value of America’s five digital behemoths—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft—has soared by half, to around $9trn. That is almost a quarter of the total for the S&P 500, an index of America’s largest companies (which has risen by just 17% in the period). The five account for almost 60% of sales, profits and spending on research and development of all the technology firms in the index. They are widely expected to be the main winners from the artificial-intelligence (AI) revolution.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Survival guide”

From the September 16th 2023 edition

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