Digitalization - Pipelines to Platforms

Rise of Digital Platforms Over 2013 to 2022

Based on data in List of public corporations by market capitalization @ Wikipedia

mcs = read.csv("marketcapitalizations.csv")

Oil Barrons Stepped Down - Silicon Kids Moved Up

Companies	Nations	Industries

Icons made by Freepik

library(ggplot2)
library(png)
library(grid)

tenyearsafter<-function(years, ranks, names, folder) {
  extent = 0.9
  
  ggplot() +
    labs(x = "Years", y = "Rank") +
    theme(
      axis.text.x      = element_text(size = 20),
      axis.text.y      = element_text(size = 20),
      axis.title.x     = element_blank(),
      axis.title.y     = element_blank(),
      axis.ticks       = element_blank(),
      panel.grid.major = element_blank(),
      panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
      panel.background = element_blank()
    ) +
    
    scale_x_continuous(
      limits = c(2012.5,2022.5),
      breaks = seq(2013,2022,1)
    ) +
    scale_y_continuous(
      limits = c(0.5,10.5),
      breaks = seq(1,10,1),
      labels = seq(10,1,-1)
    ) +
    
    coord_fixed() +
    
    mapply(function(xx, yy, nn) 
      annotation_custom(
        rasterGrob(
          readPNG(paste("icons/", folder,"/", nn,".png",sep=""))),
        xmin = xx      - extent/2,
        xmax = xx      + extent/2,
        ymin = (11-yy) - extent/2,
        ymax = (11-yy) + extent/2),
      years, ranks, names)
}

Rise of Digital Platforms / Companies

Top 10 publicly traded companies worldwide wrt market capitalization and shifts over the years 2013 - 2022.

tenyearsafter(mcs$Year,
              mcs$Rank,
              mapply(function(cc)
                gsub(" ", "",
                  gsub("&", "",
                    gsub("-", "",
                      tolower(cc))
                     )),
                mcs$Company),
              "companies")

Nota Bene: The wikipedia page cited above ranks Saudi Aramco at the first position for the fourth quarter of 2019 with a valuation of 1,900,000 million USD. Apple is ranked at the second position with a valuation of 1,305,000 million USD.

On the one hand, if you compare the 1,305,000 million USD valuation given on wikipedia with the 1,298,000 million USD you recognise that there might be slight variations by using different sources, formula, or days. But Saudi Aramco is different.

There seem to be estimates of the owner Mohaamed bin Salman at 2,00,000 million USD.

More conservative estimates come to about 1,400,000 million USD, and Wood Mackenzie estimates the valuation of Aramco at only 500,000 million USD.

Article “Wie viel ist der Ölgigant Aramco wirklich wert?” in Frankfurt Allgemeinee Zeitung

Rise of Digital Platforms / Companies (GAFA)

With the Google logo (instead of Alphabet) and the Facebook logo (instead of the Meta logo), the GAFA effect becomes visible immediately.

G	=	Google
A	=	Apple
F	=	Facebook
A	=	Amazon

mcsgafa = mcs

gafa_codes <- c("Amazon", "Apple", "Facebook", "Alphabet", "Meta")

levels(mcsgafa$Company) <- c(levels(mcsgafa$Company), "Blank")

for (i in seq_along(mcsgafa$Company)) {
  if (! (mcsgafa$Company[[i]] %in% gafa_codes))
    mcsgafa$Company[[i]] <- "Blank"
}

tenyearsafter(mcsgafa$Year,
              mcsgafa$Rank,
              mapply(function(cc)
                gsub(" ", "",
                  gsub("&", "",
                    gsub("-", "",
                      gsub("alphabet", "google",
                        gsub("meta", "facebook",
                          tolower(cc)))))),
                mcsgafa$Company),
              "companies")

Rise of Digital Platforms / Companies (GAFAM)

The GAFAM effect with the rise of Microsoft impresses even more.

G	=	Google
A	=	Apple
F	=	Facebook
A	=	Amazon
M	=	Microsoft

mcsgafam = mcs

gafam_codes <- c("Amazon", "Apple", "Facebook", "Alphabet", "Microsoft", "Meta")

levels(mcsgafam$Company) <- c(levels(mcsgafam$Company), "Blank")

for (i in seq_along(mcsgafam$Company)) {
  if (! (mcsgafam$Company[[i]] %in% gafam_codes))
    mcsgafam$Company[[i]] <- "Blank"
}

tenyearsafter(mcsgafam$Year,
              mcsgafam$Rank,
              mapply(function(cc)
                gsub(" ", "",
                  gsub("&", "",
                    gsub("-", "",
                      gsub("alphabet", "google",
                        gsub("meta", "facebook",
                          tolower(cc)))))),
                mcsgafam$Company),
              "companies")

Rise of Digital Platforms / Industries

In 2007 the Oil & Gas industry was represented by 5 companies among the top 10 in the ranking. In 2022 (end of year) the Information Technology industry takes 5 positions among the top 10.

tenyearsafter(mcs$Year,
              mcs$Rank,
              mapply(function(ii)
                if (ii == "Information Technology") "it" 
                else if (ii == "Oil and Gas")       "oil"
                else                                "empty",
                mcs$Industry),
              "industries")

Rise of Digital Platforms / Nations

By the end of 2022 the United States alone take the first nine places in the ranking.

Meanwhile China holds one positions in the top 10 with the platform company Tencent.

tenyearsafter(mcs$Year,
              mcs$Rank,
              mapply(function(nn)
                gsub(" ", "",
                  tolower(nn)),
                mcs$Nation),
              "nations")