• Gormadt
    28·
    6 months ago

    Why compete when you can destroy the other companies without restrictions?

    Imagine Walmart buys the local water company then cuts water off to their competitors by charging them an exorbitant amount? Or the local power company? What’s to stop them?

    They can just absorb the local utilities and start intentionally giving their competitors terrible or no service and drive them out of business.

    It just turns to feudalism.

      • Gormadt
        23·
        6 months ago

        How would they get the capital together (a massive undertaking) or the equipment together (again a massive undertaking) as Walmart buys up the entire supply chain to provide the pipes and power lines?

        Oh you want to hire an electrician for grid work? Walmart won’t sell you or rent you the equipment. Want to hire a plumber for grid work? Walmart won’t sell you the required equipment to set it up.

        Not even that but what’s to stop them from corporate espionage? Sabotaging their competitors. “Oh we trap rain water and truck it to people. Lately people have been getting really sick from our water but not Walmarts water.”

      • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
        12·
        6 months ago

        But their only customer would be the one store Walmart is shutting down. Why would you lay millions of dollars of pipes and more millions of dollars in purification infrastructure just for one money strapped store?

      • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
        8·
        6 months ago

        The established supplier would just buy the new competitor. If they don’t sell, the established supplier would pricedump and eat the loss, since they’re already estabished, until the new competitor agrees to be bought.