Sports, cars, technology, etc., have their supporters or fanboys. Some supporters humbly follow their preferred brand, while others do that blindly. Being a fan is not bad at its core, but when you overpass the boundaries, it can be dangerous. It seems that it is a part of our nature to be passionate about something. But the game is lost when we blindly follow our passion or disrespect others, even in harm’s way. It is healthy to support your favorite sports team but meaningless to be a hooligan. You have every right to prefer, e.g., Star Wars over Star Trek, but no right to start a Star Trek anti-campaign to support your opinion. You can find similar examples in many aspects of human life.
Technology is not a field that draws so much attention as sports, for example, but still, it has its fans. You can find people who mindlessly and without reason follow a tech brand just for the habit of it. These are ironically called Fanboys. And you can find them in every size and flavor. Apple fanboys, Intel fanboys, etc., are some examples. The most ironic part is that, for example, AMD fanboys are more anti-Intel fans than AMD supporters, and so on with other brands. And that can’t be good, you know. Not at all.
People should have the option to love their preferred brand for whatever reason and the ability to admit their wrongdoings and weaknesses objectively. Otherwise, you are nothing more than a robot and, admittedly, a bad one. You only benefit some brands this way and not yourself. Moreover, you strip yourself of the right to something better to support your lesser Ego. It might be hard to admit, but you know it is true.
But what if I tell you that at the end of the day, you are a fanboy for no significant reason? That you do mindlessly spend your hard-earned money because it would go to the same pockets, brands apart? Welcome, my dear Fanboy, to the “dark side” of capitalism. Let me explain what I mean. I guarantee you that by the time you finish reading this article, you might understand why being a fanboy is meaningless.
The owners of a company
A private company usually has an owner or several owners that might have equal or a lesser part each. Larger companies typically prefer the CEO term. But that doesn’t always apply to multi-national and multi-million-dollar companies, especially the ones that entered the stock exchange. In these companies, the CEO might be just a high-salary employee chosen by the board of directors or the owners, depending on the company’s model. You know that Tim Cook and Jensen Huang are not the actual owners of Apple and Nvidia, respectively, right? They are the CEOs, with the former being chosen by Apple’s company’s upper management, while the latter is the founder and a major shareholder. Still, whatever the case, they are well-paid employees who can be replaced at any moment if necessary. So, who the actual owners are?
The actual owners
The actual owners of these companies are usually investors or investment companies. I am sure that most of you have already heard the term “fund”, which, in short, is a pool of money allocated for a specific purpose. This pool of money is often invested and professionally managed to generate returns for its investors. Investment companies that handle funds are usually the major shareholders of big brands.
I would like to state here that this article’s source and inspiration was this highly informative YouTube video by PCSteps.gr. Unfortunately, it is addressed only to the Greek audience, so it isn’t much of use to our English-speaking audience. If you can understand Greek, watching the video mentioned above is highly recommended. So, what the host, Aggelos Kiritsis, informs us, among others, are the following:
Top Owners
Apple Inc (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- Berkshire Hathaway, Inc
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
Alphabet (Google) Inc (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
- Fidelity Management and Research Company (FMR Co)
Microsoft Corp (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
- StateStreet Global Advisors (SSgA) Funds Management, Inc
NVIDIA Corp (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- Fidelity Management and Research Company (FMR Co)
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc (top stockholders among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
- StateStreet Global Advisors (SSgA) Funds Management, Inc
Twitter Inc* (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
- StateStreet Global Advisors (SSgA) Funds Management, Inc
(*Elon Musk still plays a crucial part.)
As you may notice, the Tech giants mentioned above are owned by the same investors. These investors are not trading only in the Tech industry but also in the food and medical industries, etc., as well. Pepsico and Pfizer are included in their lists, among others. These companies are managing funds of trillions of dollars! Such a dazzling amount of money makes them too powerful, as you may understand. But this is not even the most critical part. Let’s see who are the top owners of these investing corporations.
American Vanguard Group Corp (top stockholders, among others):
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP
- The Vanguard Group
(it is worth noting that StateStreet Global Advisors (SSgA) Funds Management, Inc. is in fifth place, and Vanguard Group is third.)
State Street Corp (top stockholders, among others):
- The Vanguard Group
- Dodge & Cox
- BlackRock Fund Advisors
(it is worth noting that StateStreet Global Advisors (SSgA) Funds Management, Inc. is in fourth place.)
As you can see, these companies have close relationships with each other. They have common interests and strategies. But why is this important, and how is it related to fanboyism? Let’s proceed to the Conclusion, then.
Conclusion
The answer to the questions above is simple. The investors/owners don’t have something to separate from each other. They benefit and profit. And you are the one who gives them the power through your hard-earned money. From the moment these corporations have so close relations with each other, why should you be the one who supports only one of them unquestioningly? Your money goes to the same pockets. So, stop being a mindless consumer and start buying only what you need to, objectively. Stop being a fanboy; you are far better than that. You have the power, and you should understand it. Being a fanboy is no fun at all.
Great article and every tech, game, and general hardware enthusiast needs to learn this. It applies to other fields too but techies needs it to be known more.
Thank u very much for your kind words. I hope this article helps people to understand some things.
Thank you for publishing a very informative article. I was somewhat familiar the investment companies listed; however, I never realized the extent of their interest and involvement in computer and internet businesses. I also found it interesting that the corporations listed cooperated and depended on each other for success. I was surprised to see Berkshire Hathaway listed. Although Warren Buffet, the head of Berkshire Hathaway, has invested in computer and internet corporations a few times, he usually tends to shy away from computers and the internet.
Thank u for your kind words. I thought that this article ought to be published to info all of us. And I hope, it did.