Apple CEO Tim Cook: Not all monopolies are bad
'A monopoly by itself isn't bad if it's not abused'
Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t think monopolies are inherently bad for business.
As long, he says, as they're "not abused."
Cook’s comments to the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asian Review come amid increasing scrutiny from Washington into whether Silicon Valley giants, including Apple, are engaging in anticompetitive behavior. While the tech giant’s app business has faced such complaints, the CEO insisted to Nikkei that none of Apple’s businesses have a monopoly.
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Last week, antitrust investigators reportedly widened their probe into e-commerce giant Amazon’s retail marketplace and its cloud-computing business. In October, 47 attorney generals announced an antitrust investigation into social media firm Facebook, which they say “may have put consumer data at risk, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, and increased the price of advertising."
And just a month earlier, attorneys general for 48 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia announced an investigation into Google’s practices, arguing it “dominates” all aspects of advertising and searching on the internet.
President Trump has cited antitrust concerns with some of the industry's best-known companies, and breaking up big tech has become a hot topic for Democrats on the campaign trail.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who's seeking her party's nomination to run against Trump next year, unveiled a proposal to split up tech giants, which she said have “too much power over our economy, our society and our democracy.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has come out in favor of similar action.
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"It's very important to realize that tech itself and these large tech companies are not monolithic," Cook said. "You're not our product, that's very clear in our minds. We don't believe in trafficking your data."