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

by Scott Galloway

Overview

The acclaimed NYU business professor's tour-de-force on the true nature of technology's titans, and what happens next in their struggle to dominate our lives.

Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook are in an unprecedented race towards a $1 trillion valuation--and whoever gets there first will exert untold influence over our economy, public policy, and consumer behavior. How did these four become so successful? How high can they continue to rise? Does any other company stand a chance of competing?
 
To these questions and more, acclaimed NYU / Stern professor Scott Galloway brings bracing answers. In his highly provocative first book, he pulls back the curtain on exactly how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google built their massive empires. While the media spins tales about superior products and designs, and the power of technological innovation, Galloway exposes the truth about these "Four Horsemen":
 
· None of these four are first movers technologically; they've either copied, stolen, or acquired their ideas.
· Each company uses evolutionary psychology to appeal to our basest instincts: Amazon, our need to hunt and gather; Apple, our need to procreate; Facebook, our need for love; and Google, our need for a God.
· These companies are uniquely successful at leveraging competitive advantage built by digital and then protected by analog moats, from an empire of retail stores (Apple) to the world's most efficient physical distribution network (Amazon.)
 
Through analysis that's both rigorous and entertaining, Galloway outlines the path for the next trillion-dollar company (the Fifth Horseman) and points to which companies are in the running. (Uber, sure; less obvious, Microsoft and Starbucks.) As with Peter Thiel's Zero to One, readers will come away with fresh, game-changing insights about what it takes to win in today's economy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525501220
Publisher:	Diversified Publishing
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Scott Galloway is a Professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, where he teaches Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing. He is the founder of several firms including L2, Red Envelope, and Prophet. In 2012, he was named "One of the World's 50 Best Business School Professors" by Poets & Quants. He has served on the boards of Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company, Gateway Computer, and Berkeley's Haas School of Business. This is his first book.

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "The Four"
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Copyright © 2017 Scott Galloway.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Four: Who are these companies and why write about them? 1

Chapter 2 Amazon: How Amazon became the most disruptive firm in the largest economy 13

Chapter 3 Apple: Tech goes luxury 60

Chapter 4 Facebook: Love is key to longevity-and great advertising 90

Chapter 5 Google: Our modern-day god 124

Chapter 6 Lie to Me: The Four and funny business 152

Chapter 7 Business and the Body: All businesses appeal to one of three organs 163

Chapter 8 The T Algorithm: What it takes to get to a trillion 176

Chapter 9 The Fifth Horseman?: Who will be next? 195

Chapter 10 The Four and You: Follow your talent, not your passion 218

Chapter 11 Yes, and Now What?: Where are the Four taking us? 250

Acknowledgments 281

Notes 283

Illustration Credits 309

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

An existential alarm bell wrapped in a business lesson wrapped in an entertaining and often hilarious (and, yes, occasionally blue-languaged) series of stories built with great writing. It keeps you entertained to make sure you’re informed.” – 800-CEO-READ

“Galloway takes the reader through a refreshingly clear-eyed look at the nature of dominance at Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google. He is interested in how these companies become more valuable with use instead of less, how they benefit from low cost of capital and the implications for things [that] could further strengthen their dominance.” —Brad Stone, Bloomberg Technology 

“As the power of technology’s biggest companies comes under more scrutiny, NYU business professor Galloway reveals how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google built massive empires.” —Publishers Weekly, “The Top 10 Business Books of Fall 2017”

"This is that rare book that not only informs but entertains. You'll never look at these four companies the same way again." - Jonah Berger, author of Contagious

“Scott Galloway is honest, outrageous, and provocative. This book will trigger your flight-or-fight nervous system like no other and in doing so challenge you to truly think differently.” —Calvin McDonald, CEO of Sephora

“The Four is an essential, wide-ranging powerhouse of a book that, like Scott Gal­loway himself, marries equal parts incisive, entertaining, and biting. As in his leg­endary MBA lectures, Galloway tells it like it is, sparing no business titan and no juggernaut corporation from well-deserved criticism. A must read.” —Adam Alter, author of Drunk Tank Pink   

“If there is a blunter, more opinionated, faster-talking expert on the Internet than Scott Galloway, I haven’t come across him. Or her.” —Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

“Scott Galloway’s The Four is a bareback ride upon the four horses of the economic apocalypse – Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. It is a timely exposition of the nature and concentration of power in the world today and, as a result, is much more than just a business book…The book contains more insights and provocative ideas than Amazon has Boeing 767s… My recommendation is to walk down to your local book store and buy this – or more likely, buy it on Amazon.”
Tom Upchurch, Wired

From the Publisher

Ever wonder what it took for Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook to rise to iconic status? And whether that status is deserved—or lasting? In sharing THE FOUR’s answer, narrator Jonathan Todd Ross effectively channels author Scott Galloway, a brassy entrepreneur whose anecdotes and insights occasionally include edgy comments, as if he were a professor trying to reach a younger audience—which, indeed, Galloway is. That this work is in part directed toward students is evidenced by concluding chapters that veer off the book’s stated subject to provide college and career advice. Still, while sometimes off-thesis and off-color, THE FOUR contains strong analysis and realistic advice. Undergrads should take Galloway and his proxy, Ross, seriously. K.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2018 - AudioFile