What is the consensus here on HN? More and more I feel like Amazon is becoming the next Standard Oil. In the case of Amazon, they are leveraging technology in all spaces and optimzing everything. Could they be the next Standard Oil?
Generally, HN is bullish on Amazon, with the usual bear crowd.
IMO: Amazon has not turned the screws in ways that are causing signficant complaint. I would guess, based on the usual history of duchies, founders, etc, when Bezos starts checking out, Amazon's behavior will begin to significantly alter, and that will trigger a very interesting time. I'd guess that by 2025 (8 years out), enough pressure will have built up for antitrust and similar to be applied to the online giants. "Why is Google a virtual monopoly in search? Facebook ubiquitus in social media? Amazon in retail/online services", and the pressures from society will begin to force hearings and so forth. I would guess that the end game will be that the definition of utility services will be expanded and an load of regulation will be piled on them to ensure that it's not exploitative.
The 30 second answer is that standard oil owned an incredible percentage of the oil market, both in horizontal expanse as well as vertical integration.
They were broken up by the government through antitrust regulations, and IMO the most interesting part is the constituent parts became worth quite a bit more after breakup.
Curious about how anti-trust laws for an e-commerce firm might play out in 5-10 years, with the internet + globalization having come so far since Microsoft, I'd imagine even the US government would start to lose leverage breaking up something like Amazon.
