Representative Image. / iStock

San Francisco + Los Angeles + New York + Washington, D.C. = the most powerful “conglomerate” on Earth. I first sketched this idea in 1996. I didn’t publish it then. But the last fifteen years—especially the last three—have made the picture hard to miss.

Meet the imaginary firm running America

If these four places merged into a single company, here’s how the org chart would look:

• StoryCo (Los Angeles/Hollywood) — makes the stories, images, celebrities, and cultural moments that grab our attention.
• ComputeCo (San Francisco/Silicon Valley) — builds the tools that deliver those stories: phones, apps, AI models, chips, and the cloud.
• MoneyCo (New York/Wall Street) — finances both: funds the tech build-out and buys the media libraries, then packages it all into stocks, ETFs, and private deals.
• ConsentCo (Washington, D.C.—Congress, White House, and the Supreme Court) — writes the rules, signs the checks, and settles the fights that decide what’s allowed.

It’s an imaginary merger, but the coordination is real. StoryCo creates demand. ComputeCo delivers at scale. MoneyCo pays for growth. ConsentCo gives permission—or says “not so fast.” Together, they form one loop. That loop sets what we watch, which tools we use, where the money flows, and which choices are even on the table.

How the loop tightens

• Shared platforms. The same clouds that stream a blockbuster also run our banks, schools, and city services.
• Shared data. The data that recommends a movie can also target an ad or shape a political message.
• Shared people. Careers now cross film studios, tech platforms, finance, and government. One network, many desks.
• Shared risk. When a few platforms and funds carry everything, one outage or one bad policy ripples everywhere.

None of this requires a conspiracy. It’s just how incentives line up when attention, technology, money, and law live so close together.

Why the “merger” was useful

This tight system has upsides we shouldn’t forget:

• Speed. When the four work in rhythm, new tools and content reach millions in days, not years.
• Scale. We can fund chip plants, clean-energy projects, and global streaming launches that smaller countries can’t match.
• Jobs. Creative and technical work stack on top of each other—writers, coders, designers, lawyers, electricians, producers.

Why it now feels like a chokehold

But a system this concentrated comes with real costs:

• Fewer entry points. New artists, small companies, and local news struggle to get seen without paying platform tolls.
• Less variety. You can offer a thousand titles and still narrow the kinds of stories that actually travel.
• Opaque decisions. It’s hard to know whether an algorithm, an investor, or a lawyer made the call you’re living with.
• Fragility. If one hub stumbles, the shock spreads—to ad markets, schools on the cloud, even city budgets.

Keep the engine. Add guardrails.

We don’t need to smash the machine. We do need to steer it. Here’s a practical, citizen-level agenda that keeps the benefits and reduces the grip:

1. Open the pipes a bit. Require basic interoperability across app stores, streaming, and clouds—so smaller players can plug in and users can switch without losing everything.
2. Make data portable. Let people and creators carry followers, purchases, and preferences across platforms with a few clicks.
3. Treat compute like infrastructure. Clear pricing, fair access, and audits for throttling or paid priority on core cloud and AI services.
4. Aim antitrust at chokepoints. Focus on the places with gatekeeper power—app distribution, ad exchanges, cloud egress fees, and giant IP bundles.
5. Time-limit subsidies. When Washington invests or guarantees, set sunsets and share upside with the public if the bet pays off.
6. Guarantee room for independent voices. Tie big media consolidation to measurable commitments: budget shares and on-screen placement for independents and local stories.
7. Show the ownership map. Update disclosure so cross-holdings and voting power are easy to see in plain English, not just in footnotes.

A local view of the four hubs

• San Francisco/Silicon Valley (ComputeCo): The AI boom lives here: startups, chips, cloud credits, research labs. The rules for access—pricing, priority, data rights—will decide who participates.
• Los Angeles/Hollywood (StoryCo): Fewer studios, bigger libraries, global reach. Great for franchises; risky for new voices unless discovery rules open up.
• New York/Wall Street (MoneyCo): Index funds and private credit now move enormous sums. That cash often must back the same tech platforms and media catalogs, which locks the system in.
• Washington, D.C. (ConsentCo): Congress funds, agencies regulate, the White House directs policy, and courts draw the lines. Industrial policy and antitrust have returned to center stage.

A quiet claim, not a victory lap

Back in 1996, I guessed these four “capitals” would act like one company. I didn’t publish it, and I’m not bragging now. The point is simple: the merger happened because it worked. It solved problems of speed and scale. Today, those same strengths can become a stranglehold if we don’t adjust.

The fix is not rage or nostalgia. It’s maintenance: open a few doors, lower a few tolls, shine a bit more light, and keep the system honest. If we do that, this imaginary conglomerate can keep doing what it does best—without deciding everything for everyone else.

 

Dinesh Sastry is the President of Illuminant Capital Holdings LLC.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)