The Four

Chapter 1

The Four

Over the last twenty years, four technology giants have inspired more joy, connections, prosperity, and discovery than any entity in history. Along the way, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google have created hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs. The Four are responsible for an array of products and services that are entwined into the daily lives of billions of people. They've put a supercomputer in your pocket, are bringing the internet into developing countries, and are mapping the Earth's land mass and oceans. The Four have generated unprecedented wealth ($2.3 trillion) that, via stock ownership, has helped millions of families across the planet build economic security. In sum, they make the world a better place.

The above is true, and this narrative is espoused, repeatedly, across thousands of media outlets and gatherings of the innovation class (universities, conferences, congressional hearings, boardrooms). However, consider another view.

The Four Horsemen

Imagine: a retailer that refuses to pay sales tax, treats its employees poorly, destroys hundreds of thousands of jobs, and yet is celebrated as a paragon of business innovation.

A computer company that withholds information about a domestic act of terrorism from federal investigators, with the support of a fan following that views the firm similar to a religion.

A social media firm that analyzes thousands of images of your children, activates your phone as a listening device, and sells this information to Fortune 500 companies.

An ad platform that commands, in some markets, a 90 percent share of the most lucrative sector in media, yet avoids anti-competitive regulation through aggressive litigation and lobbyists.

This narrative is also heard around the world, but in hushed tones. We know these companies aren't benevolent beings, yet we invite them into the most intimate areas of our lives. We willingly divulge personal updates, knowing they'll be used

Scott Galloway

An existential alarm bell wrapped in a business lesson wrapped in an entertaining and often hilarious (and, yes, occasionally blue-languaged) series of stories built with great writing. It keeps you entertained to make sure you re informed. 800-CEO-READ

Galloway takes the reader through a refreshingly clear-eyed look at the nature of dominance at Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google. He is interested in how these companies become more valuable with use instead of less, how they benefit from low cost of capital and the implications for things [that] could further strengthen their dominance. Brad Stone, Bloomberg Technology 

As the power of technology s biggest companies comes under more scrutiny, NYU business professor Galloway reveals how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google built massive empires.   Publishers Weekly, The Top 10 Business Books of Fall 2017

"This is that rare book that not only informs but entertains. You'll never look at these four companies the same way again." - Jonah Berger, author of Contagious

Scott Galloway is honest, outrageous, and provocative. This book will trigger your flight-or-fight nervous system like no other and in doing so challenge you to truly think differently. Calvin McDonald, CEO of Sephora

The Four is an essential, wide-ranging powerhouse of a book that, like Scott Gal­loway himself, marries equal parts incisive, entertaining, and biting. As in his leg­endary MBA lectures, Galloway tells it like it is, sparing no business titan and no juggernaut corporation from well-deserved criticism. A must read. Adam Alter, author of Drunk Tank Pink   

If there is a blunter, more opinionated, faster-talking expert on the Internet than Scott Galloway, I haven t come across him. Or her. Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

Scott Galloway s The Four is a bareback ride upon the four horses of the economic apocalypse Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. It is a timely exposition of