Big Tech’s ‘Natural Monopoly’ Tough to Self-Regulate, Malone Says

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire cable mogul John Malone said the world’s most powerful technology giants are becoming more of a monopoly and it’s difficult for the companies to regulate themselves. 

“Big Tech is increasingly a natural monopoly,” he said at the Paley International Council Summit. “They have this network phenomenon and they are so scale-driven that, once they get to that scale, it’s very, very difficult for competition.”

Malone, 80, was a trailblazer of cable television and his sprawling media empire includes holdings in Discovery Inc., Formula One and even the World Series-winning Atlanta Braves. He was interviewed Tuesday by Mike Fries, chief executive officer of Malone’s cable company, Liberty Global. Malone said the key question was whether tech companies can police themselves enough to not abuse their power. 

Fries asked if Malone would be able to pull that off if he were running such a business.

“It would be very difficult,” Malone said. “You want growth, you continue to see opportunities, and taking a bite out of the guy next to you is an almost painless, low-risk thing to do. I think that’s why we have the antitrust laws that we do.”

But for the leaders of Big Tech, it may not be clear what the right regulatory answer is, he said. “They see the next great technology, and they have so much capital that they can acquire the next great technology if they put their weight behind it and then dominate that new sector.”

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