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An Anheuser-Busch InBev NV branded Stella Artois beer, along with SABMiller Plc branded beers.
Big-ticket appliance makers comprise an industry that has become top heavy. In 1996, there were two dozen companies that manufactured and sold washers, dryers, refrigerators and stoves. Today there are eight. Whirlpool's 2006 acquisition of Maytag helped the combined company control nearly 40 percent of the U.S. clothes-dryer market. Twenty years ago, there were 40 publicly-traded companies operating America's grocery stores. Today there are 18. Telecommunications is down to four national players with AT&T and Verizon dominating.
While managements argue that such combinations would leverage economies of scale, cut costs and pass the efficiencies to shareholders and customers, critics contend that industry-dominant companies tend to raise prices, block competitors and stifle innovation. It could be argued that Microsoft in its heyday did just that. When the company's operating system dominated the personal computer landscape, it had no incentive to improve without the threat of competition. Eventually the Internet changed desktop computing and Microsoft was knocked off its perch.