Disruption (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon)

Though somewhat redundant given prior pieces he's written, Benedict Evans doubles-down on why so much disruption is going to come from the Big Four. In a word: scale. In another: mobile distribution. Still, it seems - maybe in light of the recent Russian ad-buying scandal - that people are more focused than ever on the Big Four (Five, if you want to include Microsoft ($MSFT)). Indeed, here, The New York Times highlights how even massive companies like Snapchat ($SNAP) andUber are struggling to deal with the behemoths. On point, Google, which has previously invested in Uber, announced earlier this week a $1b investment in Lyft. Snapchat, meanwhile, much to the chagrin of pundits, is marketing an $80 dancing hot dog costume for Halloween. On one hand, it's brilliant to create consumer products based on your digital product. On the other hand, however, when your target market is the millennial, an $80 price point for a Halloween costume strikes as a, uh, a bit rich maybe...?