Monopoly: Two firms that have control over the companies that own everything in the world.
Part - I
Thread ↓
1/
The world is going through a lot due to this pandemic.
Millions have lost their loved ones, countless have lost their livelihoods, and unnumerable have lost hopes.
2/
Also, think that poorly argumentative conspiracy theories have caused you to stay far from the fearmongering media and conspiracy theorists alike.
3/
As you are watching millions fall into poverty because of the corona measures of the past year even if the greatest economic crisis in history has not affected you yet it will only be a matter of time until the rippling effects will hit you as well.
4/
This is not fear-mongering but it’s a harsh reality.
We might mitigate the damage and may even do better provided we are informed correctly about our situation.
This is why, here are a few facts you can easily check. Facts that are of crucial importance.
5/
Less than a handful of big corporations dominate every aspect of our lives.
That may seem exaggerated but from the breakfast we eat to the mattress we sleep on and everything we wear and consume in between is largely dependent on these corporations.
6/
Those are huge investment companies that determine the course of money flow.
They are the main characters of the play that we are witnessing.
Here's the summary of the most important data and how does it work.
7/
Let’s take Pepsico as an example, it is the parent company of many soda companies and snack companies.
The so-called "competitive brands" are from factories from a few corporations who monopolize the entire industry.
8/
In the packaged food industry there are a few big companies like Unilever the Coca-Cola company, Mondelez and Nestle.
In the picture you see that most brands in the food industry belong to one of these corporations.
9/
The big companies are on the stock market and have the big shareholders in the board of directors.
On sources like Yahoo Finance we can see detailed company info such as who the biggest shareholders actually are.
10/
Let’s take Pepsico again as an example we see about 72% of stock is owned by no less than 3,155 institutional investors.
These are investment companies, investment funds insurance companies, banks and in some cases governments.
11/
Who are the biggest institutional investors of Pepsico?
As you can see only 10 of the investors own together nearly one-third of the stock.
The top 10 of investors together amount to a value of 59 billion dollars.
12/
But out of those 10 only three owned more stock than the other seven.
Let’s remember them.
13/
Now let's look up who owns the most stocks of the Coca-Cola company, the biggest competitor of Pepsi.
The biggest lump of stock is again owned by institutional investors.
14/
Let’s look at the top 10 and start at the bottom six of them.
Four of these institutional investors we also saw at the bottom six of Pepsico.
These are Northern Trusts, JP Morgan, Chase, Geode Capital management and Wellington Management.
15/
Now let’s look at the four biggest stock owners. They are Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street.
These are the world’s biggest investment firms.
So Pepsico and Coca-Cola are not competitors at all (?)
16/
The other big companies that own a myriad of brand names like Unilever, Mondelez and Lesley are from the same small group of investors.
17/
But it’s not only in the food industry that their names come up.
Let’s find out on Wikipedia which are the biggest tech companies.
18/
Facebook is the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, together with Twitter they form the most popular social media platforms.
Alphabet is the parent of all Google companies like YouTube, Gmail and Android, one of the two operating systems for nearly all smartphones and tablets.
19/
The other operating system is Apple’s
iOS. And if we add Microsoft we see 4 companies making the software for nearly all computers tablets and smartphones in the world.
20/
Let’s see who are the biggest shareholders of these companies.
Take Facebook we see that 80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
21/
These are the same names that came up in the food industry.
The same investors are in a top three.
22/
Next is Twitter. It forms with Facebook and Instagram the top three.
Surprisingly this company is in the hands of the same investors as well.
23/
We see them again with Apple and even with their biggest competitor, Microsoft.
24/
Also if we look at other big companies in the tech industry that develop and make our computers, TVs, phones and home appliances we see the same big investors that together own the majority of the stock.
25/
It’s true for all industries and this is not exaggeration.
One last example, let’s book a holiday on a computer or smartphone. We search for a
flight to a sunny country on Skyscanner or Expedia both are from the same small group of investors.
26/
We fly with one of the many airlines. Many of which are in the hands of the same investors and of governments as is the case with Air France, KLM.
The plane we board is in most cases a Boeing or an Airbus also owned by the same names.
27/
We book through booking.com or Airbnb and when we arrive, we go out for dinner and place a comment on Tripadvisor.
28/
The same big investors show up in every aspect of our trip and their power is even bigger because of the kerosene it’s from their oil companies or refineries.
29/
The steel from which the plane is made, comes from their mining companies.
This small group of investment firms and funds and banks are namely also the biggest investors in the industry that dig for raw materials.
30/
Wikipedia shows that the biggest mining companies have the same big investors that we see everywhere.
31/
Also the big agricultural businesses on which the entire food industry depends, they own buyer the parent company of Monsanto, the biggest seed producer in the world.
32/
But they are also the shareholders of the big textile industry and even many popular fashion brands who make the clothing out of the cotton are owned by the same investors.
33/
Whether we look at the world’s biggest solar panel companies or oil refineries the stocks are in the hands of the same companies.
34/
They own the tobacco companies that produce all the popular tobacco brands.
35/
But they also own all big pharmaceutical companies and the scientific institutions that produce medicine.
36/
They own companies that produce our metals and also the entire car plane and weapon industry where a great deal of the metals and raw materials are used.
37/
The only companies that build our electronics down the big warehouses and online markets and even the means of payments we use to buy their products.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
38/
If you decide to research this with the sources shown here, then you will see that most popular insurance companies, banks, construction companies, telephone companies, restaurant chains and cosmetics are owned by the same institutional investors we have just seen.
39/
These institutional investors are mainly investment firms banks and insurance companies.
In turn they themselves are owned by shareholders and the most surprising thing is that they own each other’s stocks.
40/
Together they form an immense network, comparable to a pyramid the smaller investors are owned by larger investors those are owned by even bigger investors.
41/
The visible top of this pyramid shows only two companies whose names we have often seen by now they are Vanguard and Blackrock.
42/
The power of these two companies is beyond your imagination not only do they own a large part of the stocks of nearly all big companies but also the stocks of the investors in those companies this gives them a complete monopoly.
43/
A Bloomberg report states that both these companies in the year 2028 together will have investments in the amount of 20 trillion dollars. That means that they will own almost anything.
Bloomberg calls Blackrock "The Fourth Branch of Government"
44/
This thread is directly based on the documentary "Monopoly - Follow The Money"
I've shared the content from it in text to gather perspectives from various people on this topic to learn more about it and take a deep dive.
So, I do not endorse it as of now.
45/
Stay tuned for Part - II
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.