Platform Capitalism

Nick Srnicek argues that tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft are not the only firms reshaping the economy. Industrial manufacturers like Siemens and GE, along with ride-hailing and home-rental services such as Uber and Airbnb, are also rebuilding themselves around digital infrastructure that other businesses and users rely on. Srnicek calls this emerging model platform capitalism.

The book traces how this model developed, starting with the economic stagnation of the 1970s and moving through the dot-com boom and collapse of the 1990s and the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. Srnicek contends that control over essential economic infrastructure is becoming concentrated in a small number of monopolistic platforms, and he examines the new dynamics this creates within capitalism.

He also considers what these changes mean for hopes of moving beyond capitalism. The discussion is aimed at readers who want to understand how the most powerful technology companies of the present are reshaping the global economy.