Good for One but Bad for All

     Monopoly laws seem pretty cut and straightforward, don't they? Just make sure that you don't dominate over a certain percentage of the market you are participating in and the government or competitors won't have a reason to rise a case against you. But there are so many antitrust cases which all deal with this problem but why is that so important? Does it really matter that you have a little more dominance than someone else? Without laws like this put in place the world would probably succumb to a vastly rich and overpowered company that would wipe others out of oblivion and is theorized to have exploiting a company into something else entirely. Develop a new system, get a personalized army, rule over a country. After all, it has happened before.

     With Apple hitting a market cap of 770 billion dollars it is obvious that it is the most profitable modern company and makes you wonder if it is the greatest of all time. The keyword here is modern, it is true to so based on the last century no company could have ever surpassed it but what if we were to look further back than that? Have you ever heard of the Dutch East India Company? Probably not, but it is responsible for most of the economic aspects you see today not the mention the numerous inventions that they were the sole root of.

     The Dutch East India Company was originally established as a charter company, and in those the intentions the Dutch government had granted them a 21 year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. It grew to be known as the world's first transcontinental corporation and the very first company to issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words it was the first publicly traded company. And as the first model of a quasi-fictional mash up of mega corporations it received a share of somewhat governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coin, and even establish companies.

     It is also thought to have been the first and greatest company of all time, since statistically it has overshadowed it's own competitors for over 200 years. When looking at what made this company so profitable there are three main factors it is important to remember. Jay Huygens a Ditch navigator who worked for the Portuguese revealed the important trade rules which allow the Dutch and British to catch up and break the monopoly. The Dutch launched the first ever Initial Public Offering of shares, allowing them to raise enormous financial powers and compete with bigger countries. While enjoying the already established trade route via Batavia, they established direct roots later on to ship tea faster and manage the quality better.

     But whatever the greatest company that ever was is, there will never be one again, at least, not under the current national laws, but with good reason too, if one company is the best all others would be indefinitely forced to be at mercy under its will. It takes interest to note that there is no best of both worlds in this situation, only everyone can be mediocre, or one can prosper while others fail.