Short answers, pulled from the story.
The largest six tech companies in the United States by 2024 were Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia. These entities also became the largest companies globally by market capitalization.
Economist Jim Cramer coined the acronym FANG to describe Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google in 2013. He called these companies totally dominant in their markets and claimed they were poised to take a bite out of declining sectors.
Antitrust investigations began in the late 1990s leading to the first major case against Microsoft in 2001 because the U.S. government accused it of illegally maintaining monopoly position in PC markets. District court ruled actions constituted monopolization under Sherman Antitrust Act while appeals court affirmed most judgments.
Without regulation, Google, Apple, and Facebook earned over 20% profit margins in 2014. The complexity of IT made competition law ineffective resulting in industry self-regulation.
On the 5th of August 2024, the Magnificent Seven briefly lost $1 trillion before quickly recovering. Deutsche Bank stated that combined valuation reached $13 trillion by February 2024 which exceeded stock market valuations in every country except Japan, China, and the United States.