Big Tech is booming as a result of the corona lockdowns, and its access to data and the ability to steer public conversation is stronger than ever. And their stocks are up too – while companies in other markets have taken a downturn.
Remember: former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that coronavirus should make us all grateful for Big Tech companies – and now it seems billionaires in general are betting big on Big Tech.
Based on a recent disclosure by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it was revealed that the foundation has heavily invested in Big Tech stocks.
The trust which administers the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation purchased several thousand Apple, Amazon, and Twitter stocks in the initial quarter of 2020, the period afflicted with the global pandemic. The foundation did not release any official statement about its significant investment in these tech companies.
Diving deeper into the details of the stock purchase, it can be seen that the trust bought 60,460 shares of Amazon. It is worth noting that the foundation did not hold any of the ecommerce giant’s stock until the end of 2019. It also goes without saying that the lockdowns have fueled the dependence on e-commerce and home delivery, rapidly boosting the stock price of Amazon. The stock rose 25% in the second quarter.
At a juncture where the retail market has crashed badly, direct-to-consumer companies as well as e-commerce companies are reaping the benefits of an economy reliant on buying every single thing from the internet. Amazon is however going to face stiff competition from fellow big tech companies such as Facebook, as the social media giant is now keen on launching an ecommerce platform.
Although Amazon has also evolved into the streaming service industry through its Prime Video, Apple is also planning on strengthening its streaming platform, which may ultimately put up a tough battle with Prime, Netflix, and other similar streaming platforms.
The Gates’ trust bought a little over half a million shares of Apple, which also happened to see a sharp rise much like Amazon since the coronavirus outbreak happened.
Finally, Twitter; though the company did not come up with any groundbreaking innovations in the current times, people’s boredom-fueled usage of the platform ended up doing it good. Ever since the pandemic broke and people were quarantined across the world, the activity on Twitter kept on soaring, increasing its stock value in the early quarter of 2020.
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