Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
Has ownership in many US industries become heavily concentrated?
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
By Gus Fisher
Copy link
Copy featured image
YES
In a variety of U.S. industries, competition is limited to a few large companies, according to Open Markets Institute, an organization that examines monopolies. Examples include:
- Google and Apple together serve 99% of the market for smartphone operating systems (2018).
- Home Depot and Lowe’s run 81% of the country’s home improvement stores (2017).
- Delta, American, United and Southwest take 76% of domestic airline revenue (2018).
- DowDuPont and Bayer sell 78% of all corn seeds (2015).
- Nestlé, J.M. Smucker and Mars supply 88% of dry cat food (2017).
- Two firms, Hillenbrand and Matthews, own 82% of coffin and casket manufacturing (2019).
Market concentration is “both high and rising over time,” according to a 2018 brief from the Federal Trade Commission. The number of mergers rose from 2,308 in 1985 to 15,361 in 2017, the FTC noted.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Open Markets Institute America’s concentration crisis
Federal Trade Commission The United States has a market concentration problem
Oxford University Press Review of Finance: Are US industries becoming more concentrated?
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
