The current pace of change in the world is at the highest velocity it has ever been. It use to take decades to build companies now it takes years. Apple can go from the verge of bankruptcy to the largest company by market cap in about a decade. General Motors can go from one of the greatest companies to bankruptcy in that same time period. MySpace a first mover in social media can be toppled my the new upstart facebook in just a few years. Zuckerberg can turn an idea in his dorm room into a $100 billion company in 9 years. Apple can invent the iPod and iTunes and bankrupt Tower Records in just a few years. Amazon can crush electronic stores and book stores in just a decade. Publicly traded companies are no longer just about growing earnings and sales, they have to stay focused just to survive. Look at Research in Motion, practically the inventor of the smart phone was then devastated by their inability to keep up with competition, Apple as the primary assassin.
So who is in the best positions to not only survive but thrive in this survival of the fittest new world?
Apple-The Guerrilla in the room and industry crusher with an infrastructure that feeds itself-iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the Macintosh. Google-The master of the search universe with new aspirations for Google Fiber and Google Glass. the worlds biggest entrepreneurial company.eBay– Still the leader in online auctions and online transaction with PayPal.
Amazon- The one retailer positioned to dominate. Price leader online and they do whatever it takes to crush the competition. No shop lifting, no store employees, or brick and mortar stores with leases to deal with. HUGE advantages in the retail space.
Facebook– Even though the stock offering was too big with too many high priced shares for retail investors the company itself is becoming a web within the internet with people connecting with this new form of communication in new ways. This stock is much like Amazon confusing investors and traders by maintaining strange P/E ratios and valuations. It is all about the future with this one, but you will have to trade the chart and not the fundamentals until they truly monetize.