The Magnificent Seven: Two Fortresses

You’ll hear investment types bandying about the term “Magnificent Seven.” It sounds like a 1960s heist movie, doesn’t it? Or perhaps a particularly flamboyant poker game. In reality, it refers to a handful of enormously successful companies – Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta – that have, in recent years, come to dominate the stock market to an almost comical degree. They’ve hoovered up a significant portion of the overall value, and it does make you wonder if the rest of us are just playing for scraps. But let’s not get bogged down in existential market anxieties. There’s a reason these companies are so…magnificent, and it’s worth a closer look. I’ve been poking around, and two of them, in particular, strike me as particularly well-defended.

It’s not simply about being innovative, though they are. It’s about something a bit more…sticky. A bit more like trying to unstick a particularly determined limpet from a rock. And that something is network effects.

Network Effects: More Users, More Everything

Alphabet (GOOGL 0.79%) (GOOG 0.73%) – the company that seems to own a disconcertingly large slice of the internet – has billions of users flitting across its various platforms. YouTube, Google Search… it’s a staggering number. And Meta Platforms (META +1.77%), the folks behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, aren’t far behind. It’s almost unsettling, isn’t it? The sheer scale of it.

Now, here’s the clever bit. The more people who use these services, the more valuable they become. More users mean more data, which allows the algorithms to improve, which attracts even more users. It’s a positive feedback loop, a virtuous cycle, a…well, you get the idea. It’s like a snowball rolling downhill. It starts small, but quickly gathers momentum. And attempting to stop it is…discouraged. It creates a competitive moat so wide, it’s practically a separate ocean. And it’s not just about size; it’s about the sheer accumulation of information. They know what we like, what we search for, what cat videos we obsess over. It’s a little creepy, but undeniably effective.

Disruption? Good Luck With That

Think about it. Trying to build a search engine from scratch that could compete with Google? Good luck. It’s not just about having a clever algorithm; it’s about having the infrastructure, the data, and, crucially, the user base. The barrier to entry is immense. And the same goes for social media. Convincing billions of people to abandon Facebook or Instagram and switch to your shiny new platform? It’s a Herculean task. It’s like trying to redirect a river with a teaspoon.

We live in an age of rapid technological change, of course. Something new and disruptive is always just around the corner. But even in this whirlwind of innovation, Alphabet and Meta appear remarkably resilient. They’ve built such dominant positions, such ingrained habits among their users, that they seem almost immune to the threat of disruption. It’s not a guarantee, of course. Nothing ever is. But as an investor, it’s a comforting thought. It suggests these aren’t just fleeting fancies, but companies with the potential to endure. And that, in the long run, is what really matters.

2026-01-25 21:32

Network Effects: More Users, More Everything

Disruption? Good Luck With That

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