, Columnist
The U.S. Doesn't Need More Superstar Companies
They stifle competition, and hoard the best ideas and workers.
Bright light, big company.
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Big companies are taking over the U.S. In industry after industry, from telecommunications to retail to banking to health care, larger corporations are gobbling up market share from smaller ones — sometimes by merging with them, sometimes by taking their business.
Nor does the trend toward mega-corporations show any sign of abating. A proposed merger between media giants CBS and Viacom, and another between pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene, are only the latest examples. M&A activity has increased in the past few years: