An unprecedented flow of riches is concentrating wealth among Silicon Valley companies that capitalized on the world’s locked-down lives amid the pandemic, raising fears that a dramatically lopsided recovery will warp the economic future for the Bay Area.
“Any time you have a jolt to the economy … those that have the ability to most benefit from that will benefit handsomely,” San Jose Chamber of Commerce CEO Derrick Seaver said. “We have a particular focus on making sure that the businesses that were on the negative end of the last two years are given a fair playing field to recover.”
Apple’s revenue skyrocketed to a record $366 billion last year, from $275 billion in 2020 as the virus began wreaking havoc, and from $260 billion in 2019 before the pandemic, propelled by device sales and services to people suddenly living through screens. Google’s 2021 take leaped to a record $258 billion from $183 billion in 2020 and $162 billion in 2019. And Facebook’s income surged to a record $118 billion from $86 billion in 2020 and $71 billion in 2019, as advertisers scrambled to target ads to populations shopping much more heavily online. All three also reaped record profits.
