Tim O’Reilly: Idealist Monopolists
on Monday, March 22, 2021Tim O’Reilly Money Quote saying our economic system has become effective at making idealists transform into monopolists. Tim O’Reilly said:
“We’ve created a financial system that turns idealists into monopolists” — Tim O’Reilly
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A perfect summary of my comments, from @rainforestbook in the Zoom chat: "We’ve created a financial system that turns idealists into monopolists." https://t.co/daJhIOEkkP
— timoreilly (@timoreilly) March 12, 2021
In this quote, Tim O’Reilly seems to be criticizing how the current financial system encourages idealistic entrepreneurs and innovators to eventually pursue monopolistic business practices in order to achieve economic success and security.
The best interpretation is that O’Reilly believes the pressure to continually grow revenues and market share in our profit-driven economy often compels even well-intentioned startups and companies to marginalize competitors over time through aggressive tactics like acquisitions or leveraging network effects, rather than maintaining an open marketplace of ideas.
His point appears to be that the system is structured in a way that transforms visionary founders seeking to change an industry for the better into monopolists focused on dominating that industry.