The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

By Scott Galloway

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. Just about everyone is wrong.

For all that's been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.

Instead of buying the myths these compa­nies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they're almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world's first trillion-dollar company, can anyone chal­lenge them?

In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world's most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can't match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career.

Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735213674
• ISBN13: 9780735213678
• Release Date: September 2018
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Contrarian’s Dream

The author, Scott Galloway, is both an entrepreneur and marketing instructor at NYU Stern. His observations are consistently counterintuitive in the best possible way. He is angry that Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook are unnaturally praised for predatory actions, yet he is still able to explain clearly why they have achieved their unmatchable success with lessons that are replicable. It’s interesting to read this 5 years after it’s 2017 publication. Much of it is still spot on, but it’s starting to become apparent that The Four are likely to become The Three with Facebook wandering aimlessly in the metaverse. It all reminds you how unlikely any company will matter 50 years after its emergence, mostly because the anticompetitive forces that create distance between competitors also alienate customers and ultimately undermine trust.