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Tech Overtakes Finance Among Top Global Companies (cityam.com)

An anonymous reader writes:Technology has stolen a march on finance, with the success of companies such as Alphabet and Microsoft helping the innovative sector surpass the traditional world of financial services among the world's top 100 companies over the past year. Technology firms in the list notched up a combined value of $3bn compared to financial firms' $2.7bn and the $2.6bn value of consumer goods companies. Apple held its position at the top of the ranking, compiled by PwC, despite losing $121bn in market value over the past year to the end of March, and the overall value of the world's top 100 firms falling four per cent -- the most significant decrease since the financial crisis, with a cash value of $668bn. Alphabet closed the gap on Apple in second place, narrowing its market capitalisation from $350bn to just $86bn, while Microsoft rounded out the top three. Facebook was in sixth position while Amazon entered the top 10 for the first time. Tech firms have better weathered more choppy conditions in the global markets, particularly conditions in China and Europe's struggle with economic growth.

33 comments

  1. There is something weird with the source link by cloud.pt · · Score: 2

    After 2 paragraphs, the source material starts going gibberish with stuff like:

    "plpeAveor aelhlt vdanlau e, hocfr atMh ef ow odrnled 'esh tt oopt 1r0a0e yf itrsmasp feahltl irnegv of oeuurl apve rt eckernatm -n it hneb 1m2o1s$t gsniigsnoilf iectainpts edde c,rCewaPs ey bs idneclei ptmhoec f,ignnainkcniaarl echrti sfios ,p owti tehh ta tcaa snho ivtailsuoep osft i$ 6d6l8ebhn."

    1. Re:There is something weird with the source link by cloud.pt · · Score: 2

      apparently happening on all cityam.com articles. Must be some new fancy paywall but I can't see any reference to a subscription. Weird

    2. Re:There is something weird with the source link by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, that only appeared to me after are enabled Javascript for the site in NoScript. Before, the text was legible.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:There is something weird with the source link by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Eh, "...after I enabled..."

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:There is something weird with the source link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Another shit website that won't show its content unless you agree to expose yourself to malware (i.e., disable adblocking). Fuck You. Stop linking to sites which demand that people expose themselves to malware.

    5. Re:There is something weird with the source link by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Actually, you may have misinterpreted what I was saying: ONLY IF you expose yourself to malware, their text will become illegible. Also, I didn't link to anything. :-p

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Re: One in the same by tysonedwards · · Score: 2

    Finance has been tech for quite a while now... The idea of one tech company displacing another is a way of life.

    --
    Thirty four characters live here.
  3. Nobody wanted to hear it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When many of us said silicon valley had supplanted wall street and the banks, well, here you go. They are somehow even less ethical than the old guard, too. Would be nice if we cared at all about regulation in the USA, *THIS* is what Senator Warren should have been focused on. It is not a a normal market with regular old companies anymore, and hasn't been for years.

    1. Re:Nobody wanted to hear it by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Neither technology nor finance is. Essentially, you have two snakeoil peddlers, one selling your hopes, one selling your privacy, competing over being the top dog with companies that really sell you something (instead of just selling you) standing at the sidelines.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Nobody wanted to hear it by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      no one in America ever cared about freedom FOR THE WEAK, at least not at the ballot box.
      Freedom for the strong? Well, let's go have another war fought by the poor to enrich the few!!
      The people who should be "Shocked" and "Awe"d by our warmongering are the people who are profiting from it.
      And there you find Finance and Tech, sucking up the profits in boxloads
      No one at NSA had to create the fiber-break router-intercept boxes.
      Finance paid for them, and Tech built them ON SPEC, hoping for the profits
      And as Snowden showed us, boy did they reap!

  4. Diff btw billion & trillion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

        Look it up.

  5. Billion trillion by bagsc · · Score: 2

    $3 bil value? That's a swing in Apple's quarterly profits, not an industry's value.

    --
    http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
    1. Re: Billion trillion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's clearly meant to be trillion. The linked article has it wrong as well

  6. Finance joke by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Q: What's the difference between a bank and a tech company?

    A: The bank has smaller financial reserves.

    As others have pointed out here, tech companies are banks. And banks are tech companies. They are both just mechanisms for siphoning off your wealth and productivity.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  7. "Technology" already surpassed finance. by the_humeister · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If car, airplane, and defense companies are added. Are these not considered "technology"? Is an F-22 not considered "technology" anymore? Why does software and computer hardware only get counted as "technology"?

    1. Re:"Technology" already surpassed finance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      On the other hand, Google gets 98% of its revenue from advertising, just like newspapers and magazines. Nobody calls Time Magazine a technology company, so why Google?

    2. Re:"Technology" already surpassed finance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If car, airplane, and defense companies are added. Are these not considered "technology"? Is an F-22 not considered "technology" anymore? Why does software and computer hardware only get counted as "technology"?

      It's industry characterization for financial purposes, it's simply a name to define a grouping of companies that are economically affected by the same or similar factors. An F-22 while an advanced technological aircraft is produced by a company that is 1) doing advanced manufacturing, and 2) is subject to both defense spending and overall trends in the airline industry and aircraft manufacturing. "Tech Companies" is in finance parlance a grouping of companies made up almost exclusively of software developers, which are affected by completely different economic trends.

      There is a far greater correlation to say Facebook and Microsoft than say Facebook and Boeing (I used Boeing and not Lockheed martin, the producer of the F-22, because Lockheed also has a significant software business and thus is more closely related to a software company than a purely aerospace focused company like Boeing).

    3. Re:"Technology" already surpassed finance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, Google gets 98% of its revenue from advertising, just like newspapers and magazines. Nobody calls Time Magazine a technology company, so why Google?

      Because they're not at all the same. Just because they earn revenue from the same monetization scheme does not mean they are correlated.

      TIME Magazine produces content for readers to consume and in that consumption they sell space in their publication for others to show off their products, but the consumers of TIME show up for the content produced by TIME. TIME is affected by changes in how consumers consume news and media and overall shifts in the publication business. They can improve their business by understanding what content their readers want and providing more of that.

      Google indexes the web and enables people to find things they are interested, but they do not produce content. Google's consumers show up to help them find information they are looking for, and in so doing Google monetizes by selling ads through the various searches. Google is less affected by the changes in how consumers consume news and media, and is more affected by growth in the use of the internet, and is much more threatened by new entrants who do what they do better. THey can improve their business by providing new software tools that compliment a user's ability to get information such as GMail, Twitter, Google+ etc.

      As such they are affected by and engage their business in entirely different ways. TIME and Google are nothing alike as businesses; Google has much more in common with Facebook in that they provide a platform for people to get access to the information they want, whereas TIME has much more in common with MSNBC or CNN or The Onion for that matter in they produce content.

    4. Re:"Technology" already surpassed finance. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Young kids these days... :-p

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:"Technology" already surpassed finance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > If car, airplane, and defense companies are added. ...

      Those are "engineering" and "aerospace" companies. If you reject those labels, you might as well ask why companies like Palm Harbor Homes aren't considered to be tech companies... after all, there's quite a bit of innovation and engineering know-how evident in what they do.

  8. "FinTech" = bullshit by pete6677 · · Score: 1

    Companies prattling on about being "leaders in the fintech space" are simply selling huge heaping piles of bullshit. Just like "cloud" and CRM salescreatures of prior years.

    1. Re:"FinTech" = bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Companies prattling on about being "leaders in the fintech space" are simply selling huge heaping piles of bullshit. Just like "cloud" and CRM salescreatures of prior years.

      You're entitled to your opinion even if it's glaringly wrong. FinTech is actually a hot area as it's smoothing how people move money around, PayPal was a great first example but there are many more.

      CRM is super important to generating sales and there's a reason that SalesForce is the company that it is. Cloud services is entirely a modern thing and many companies are very successful.

      Also, when they're talking about Finance companies they're not talking about "FinTech". They're talking about financial services firm like Goldman Sachs, AIG, Morgan Stanley etc. so also your opinion while factually incorrect is also irrelevant to the topic.

    2. Re:"FinTech" = bullshit by pete6677 · · Score: 1

      This post brought to you by your friends at Gartner Group.

  9. Re:Billion trillion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    $3 bil value? That's a swing in Apple's quarterly profits, not an industry's value.

    That doesn't make any sense. That's like comparing apples and cars.

    Quarterly profits is a measure of income. Value is a measure of base value. In addition, Apple as stated in the summary has lost $121B in value as their stock price has gradually declined for a solid year. The $3B is a trend up in total value of tech companies, which is notable given the gradual downturn of Apple, the anticipated market depreciation, and the Brexit sending all stocks down.

  10. Innovative? Hardly! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Most of the money is made from lawsuits and patent/copyright trading. That is the major "innovation" of this industry.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  11. All this money... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All this money in technology and the industry is quickly moving away from employing any Americans, instead wanting more and more outsourcing and H1Bs. It makes me sad.

  12. PopeRatzo is with Her by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And that's just the way you like it, you bleeding heart SJW you.

    We all know you're with Her.

    DIAF.

    Trump 2016.

    1. Re:PopeRatzo is with Her by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      And that's just the way you like it, you bleeding heart SJW you.

      We all know you're with Her.

      DIAF.

      Trump 2016.

      Now THAT'S how you run a campaign. Not a stupid campaign, but a smart campaign. With the best people. And a social media strategy that's so terrific it'll make your head spin. A classy, classy social media strategy.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  13. Re:Billion trillion by david-bo · · Score: 1

    Read again. Market value is typically 10-50 the profit (PE), not the other way around.