Monopoly Examples (2024)

The following monopoly examples provide various types of monopolistic businesses. The examples are both theoretical and practical. Some companies are monopolistic in the field they trade in. Since there are a lot of monopoly examples, not all variations and types are explained here, but the outline of all types remains the same, i.e., the firm or a company is a sole seller of a product with no competitors or substitutes.

Table of contents
  • Monopoly Examples
    • Top 8 Examples of Monopoly in Real Life
      • Monopoly Example #1 – Railways
      • Monopoly Example #2 – Luxottica
      • Monopoly Example #3 -Microsoft
      • Monopoly Example #4 – AB InBev
      • Monopoly Example #5 – Google
      • Monopoly Example #6 – Patents
      • Monopoly Example #8 – Facebook
    • Conclusion
    • Monopoly Examples Video
    • Recommended Articles
Monopoly Examples (1)

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Top 8 Examples of Monopoly in Real Life

The following are examples of monopolies in real life.

Monopoly Example #1 – Railways

The government provides public services like the railways. Hence, they are a monopolist because new partners or privately held companies are not allowed to run railways. However, the price of the tickets is reasonable so that most people can use public transport.

Monopoly Example #2 – Luxottica

Luxottica – A company that owns all the major brands of sunglasses. The company has bought almost all the major eyewear brands. However, they are still named differently. It creates an illusion in the customer’s mind that they have a variety of sunglasses to choose from, although they are all manufactured by one company. Luxottica produces more than 80% of the eyewear worldwide.

Monopoly Example #3 -Microsoft

Microsoft – Microsoft is a Computer and software manufacturing Company. It holds more than 75% market share and is the tech space’s market leader and virtual monopolist.

Monopoly Example #4 – AB InBev

AB InBev – A company formed by the mergerMergerMerger refers to a strategic process whereby two or more companies mutually form a new single legal venture. For example, in 2015, ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co and Kraft Foods Group Inc merged their business to become Kraft Heinz Company, a leading global food and beverage firm.read more of Anheuser-Busch and InBev distributes over 200 types, including Budweiser, Corona, Beck’s, etc. While these beer names are different and have different compositions to give a different taste, they belong to a single company. So, when people consume different Beers, they are paying a single company in a sense.

Monopoly Example #5 – Google

Google has become a household name and whenever we don’t know any answer, probably googling is the answer. With their secret algorithm, the biggest web searcher controls more than 70% market share. In addition, the company has grown into a web of services interlinked like maps, Gmail, search engines, etc. As a result, the company has left its competitors – Yahoo and Microsoft- behind its innovation and technological advancement.

Monopoly Example #6 – Patents

Patents provide a legal monopoly to a company, albeit for a short period. When the patent is in force, no other company can use its invention for its purposes. For example, a casino in Genting Highlands, Malaysia, held an exclusive patent for legalized casino, and it enjoyed the legal monopoly for years in Malaysia.

Monopoly Example #7 – AT&T

In 1982, AT&T, a telecommunications firm, was the sole supplier of telephone services across the U.S., which was violating the antitrust laws. Due to its monopolistic activities for service as essential telecommunication, the company was forced to split into six subsidiaries called “Baby Bells.”

Monopoly Example #8 – Facebook

Social media is the new market in the current century. While the users are offered free services, the companies earn from the advertising revenueRevenueRevenue is the amount of money that a business can earn in its normal course of business by selling its goods and services. In the case of the federal government, it refers to the total amount of income generated from taxes, which remains unfiltered from any deductions.read more. With its huge portion of the market share, Facebook almost has a monopoly in this business. The company is ahead of all its competitors like Google+, Twitter, etc. It has seenorganic growthOrganic GrowthOrganic growth is the rate of growth that a company achieves by increasing sales revenue by increasing volume of products sold or by achieving greater operational efficiency leading to a reduction in the cost of production or any other internal improvement.read moreOrganic growth is the rate of growth that a company achieves by increasing sales revenue by increasing volume of products sold or by achieving greater operational efficiency leading to a reduction in the cost of production or any other internal improvement.read moreOrganic growth is the rate of growth that a company achieves by increasing sales revenue by increasing volume of products sold or by achieving greater operational efficiency leading to a reduction in the cost of production or any other internal improvement.read moreOrganic growth is the rate of growth that a company achieves by increasing sales revenue by increasing volume of products sold or by achieving greater operational efficiency leading to a reduction in the cost of production or any other internal improvement.read morein users and social media advertisers and acquisitionAcquisitionAcquisition refers to the strategic move of one company buying another company by acquiring major stakes of the firm. Usually, companies acquire an existing business to share its customer base, operations and market presence. It is one of the popular ways of business expansion.read more of other companies like Whatsapp, Oculus Rift, etc. The company is so big that they recently charged it with affecting the users’ sentiments on how the elections are fought and inclines them towards a single person or a party.

Conclusion

While monopolies are common in thecapitalist economy, governments check that they do not take advantage of this and charge the customers high rates for their goods and services. Moral laws are made to verify the monopolistic prices of the companies. In addition, the governments have made antitrust laws to protect consumers from the predatory behavior of monopolistic companies.

Monopoly Examples Video

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Monopoly Examples. Here, we discuss its definition and top 8 monopoly examples in real life with detailed explanations. You can learn more about accounting from the following articles: –

Monopoly Examples (2024)

FAQs

Monopoly Examples? ›

Natural gas, electricity companies, and other utility companies are examples of natural monopolies. They exist as monopolies because the cost to enter the industry is high and new entrants are unable to provide the same services at lower prices and in quantities comparable to the existing firm.

What are some examples of monopoly? ›

Natural gas, electricity companies, and other utility companies are examples of natural monopolies. They exist as monopolies because the cost to enter the industry is high and new entrants are unable to provide the same services at lower prices and in quantities comparable to the existing firm.

What are 3 examples of products under monopoly market? ›

The U.S. markets that operate as monopolies or near-monopolies in the U.S. include providers of water, natural gas, telecommunications, and electricity.

Is Walmart a monopoly? ›

Walmart is never largely affected by the pricing strategies of its competitors but instead its competitors are the ones who have to adapt their prices to match the prices of Walmart. The size of Walmart in comparison to its competitors gives Walmart the characteristic of a monopoly.

Why is Amazon a monopoly? ›

Amazon's Trickle-Down Monopoly shows that it is by eliciting and constraining the agency of small business owners — rather than simply eliminating them — that Amazon has gained its power over global retail. In the process, countless small businesses across the world have made themselves in Amazon's image.

Is Apple a monopoly? ›

And the judge ruled that Apple doesn't have monopoly power because customers can choose Android phones instead. She did find, however, that Apple's policies violated California's Unfair Competition Law.

Is USPS a monopoly? ›

With a few minor exceptions, the United States Postal Service enjoys a legal monopoly in the delivery of letters. Under the Private Express Statutes, private letter carriers are subject to fines and/or imprisonment. Why should the U.S.P.S. hold a legal monopoly?

Is Netflix a monopoly? ›

The market structure that Netflix operates under is an oligopoly. In an oligopoly, there are a few companies that control the entire market. In the streaming market, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Are the main competitors.

Is Tesla a monopoly? ›

This is due to the fact that Tesla has monopolized the parts and service aspects of the business, the plaintiff alleges, because Tesla owners can only get their cars serviced at Tesla service centers, or authorized service shops. Additionally, Tesla vehicles can only be repaired using Tesla parts.

What are the biggest monopolies in the US today? ›

Amazon, Meta, Google, Disney have massive brand recognition, and their services impact almost everyone. That's enough to have people consider them as monopolies. Though these companies dominate specific markets, they have competitors too.

Is Disney a monopoly? ›

Disney Oligopoly: The Market Structure Of Walt Disney

Oligopoly is a market structure whereby a few number of firms owns a lion's share in the market. This market structure is similar to monopoly, except that instead of one firm, two or more firms have control in the market.

Is Coca Cola a monopoly? ›

A monopoly is a firm that is the only producer of a particular product. However, if you push on the definition of monopoly, things get a little murky. Does Coca-Cola have a monopoly? Well, yes they do.

Is Nike a monopoly company? ›

The company operates in oligopolistic market structures in which there are other able and worthy competitors. For this reason, the company must always do its best to train their human resources and labor force to keep up with the competitors or even outdo them.

Is PayPal a monopoly? ›

The service allows its customers to send, receive or hold money. PayPal holds a monopoly on online payments.

Does Microsoft have a monopoly? ›

If Microsoft wants to use this ability to change the value of the product in the market, they can charge a higher price for a window that could be charged in a competitive market. Microsoft can fix the prices of the product. Microsoft created a monopoly through patents on its product.

How is Google a monopoly? ›

The Justice Department and the states, which include New York and California, said Google had built its monopoly by buying up crucial tools that delivered ads to publishers. As a result, advertisers paid more for space on the internet and publishers made less money, as Google took its cut, they said.

Is Starbucks considered a monopoly? ›

Starbucks is a famous American multinational chain of coffeehouses, which is also characterized as the largest chain of the coffeehouse. It is considered an oligopoly because it is one of the few firms that... See full answer below.

Is McDonald's a monopoly? ›

While McDonald's may fulfill some of the criteria required of a monopoly, it falls short on many others. That said, other types of market structures might better describe McDonald's business, such as monopolistic competition and so-called natural monopolies.

Is there a Mcdonalds monopoly? ›

Last time McDonald's Monopoly ran from September to October 2022 and around the same time in 2021. The new game launching today, Winning Sips, works in a similar way with customers getting a cup that comes with a sticker. You then peel it off to see if you've won a prize instantly, or an app play code you collect.

Is FedEx a monopoly? ›

FedEx operates as an oligopoly, the reason behind this being its market concentration. Both FedEx and UPS accommodate around 80% of the market share.

Is Home Depot a monopoly? ›

The market structure for Home Depot is a dominant firm oligopoly. Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer. Home Depot's focus is on pricing and product range. “Oligopoly” denotes a situation where there are few sellers for a product or service.

Is Yahoo a monopoly? ›

Answer and Explanation: Yahoo is a worldwide web services provider. It is an internet portal which incorporates search engines. It is not considered to be a monopoly because there are other similar service providers and internet portals which serve the same purpose as Yahoo.

Is Uber a monopoly? ›

It is a platform monopoly in the making. This is because it cannot support it's multi-billion-dollar valuation by being a ride broker. Uber needs to create a platform monopoly so that it can leverage into other verticals, from logistics to self-driving cars.

Is Wendy's a monopoly? ›

Wendy's is a fast food restaurant. In a sense, it has a monopoly. No other fast food restaurant makes a hamburger like Wendy's. No other fast food restaurant sells a Frosty.

Is wifi a monopoly? ›

Monopolies rule the internet. Alphabet owns search; Amazon runs e-commerce; Apple has the hardware; Meta controls social networking; and Microsoft dominates business software. The mantra of modern industry is monopoly, and the internet is one of its victims.

Is Electricity a monopoly? ›

Natural Monopolies. A natural monopoly exists when average costs continuously fall as the firm gets larger. An electric company is a classic example of a natural monopoly.

Is BMW a monopoly? ›

Because of its large number of competitors and the comparatively small amount of power the firm has over the automotive industry, BMW is part of a monopolistic competition market.

What company has been a monopoly? ›

Examples of real-life monopolies include Luxottica, Microsoft, AB InBev, Google, Patents, AT&T, Facebook, and railways. Monopolies are a common feature of capitalist economies, but governments must ensure that these companies do not exploit their position to impose high rates for goods and services.

Is the NBA a monopoly? ›

Sports leagues such as the NBA are interesting to study economically. Instead of the league being a monopoly, each team within the league is actually its own individual monopoly. By definition, a monopoly exists when one single firm is the lone supplier of a particular good or service within a given market.

Was AT&T a monopoly? ›

AT&T grew by relentlessly gobbling up rival companies and eventually struck a deal with the government to make its monopolization legal in exchange for universal service (known as the Kingsbury Commitment). As a monopolist, AT&T's unilateral decisions dictated the way people communicated.

Is UPS a monopoly? ›

In the 1970's, UPS had pretty much a monopoly outside of the United States Postal Service, and like today, not strong competition from them.

Is Facebook a monopoly? ›

According to the FTC's complaint, Facebook is the world's dominant personal social networking service and has monopoly power in a market for personal social networking services.

Is fast food a monopoly? ›

It is the most common market structure. Fast food restaurants, hotels, gas stations, clothing stores, medical practices, legal firms, and hair salons are several industries that are monopolistically competitive, assuming they locate in areas with other companies that serve the same clientele.

Is Ticketmaster a monopoly? ›

A modern example of monopolies can be evident in the market of ticketing. Today, one of the largest companies in the ticket market is Ticketmaster. Founded in 1976, Ticketmaster originally licensed computer programs and sold hardware for ticketing systems.

Is Dunkin Donuts a monopoly? ›

Both brands operated locally before later expanding their markets in US and other global markets. The two brands are now operating in a monopolistic market with Dunkin`s Donut having nearly 11,000 restaurants in 33 different countries and Start bucks operating in 20,000 retail stores in more than 65 countries.

Are McDonald's and Starbucks monopolies? ›

Starbucks and McDonald's are two companies that operate in markets with monopolistic competition as there are other firms that offer similar products as each of them.

Why is Starbucks a monopoly? ›

Its market is in monopolistic competition as there are many competitors that try to imitate Starbucks. Therefore Starbucks does not have complete freedom to set its prices arbitrarily high as the other competitors could then start to siphon price-conscious customers away.

Are NFL teams monopolies? ›

As a potential monopoly, the NFL has no significant regulatory authority like other multibillion-dollar industries (although some antitrust litigation has happened).

Are sports a monopoly? ›

Pro sports leagues have been classified by government officials as monopolies, and are therefore subject to antitrust regulation.

Are car companies a monopoly? ›

The automobile industry is considered an oligopoly because it has considerable boundaries to enter it, it relies on brand loyalty and image to make sales, and it is dominated by three major automobile companies.

Is eBay a monopoly? ›

However, because of eBay's near-monopoly on the consumer-to-consumer ecommerce marketplace, that access does come with a cost: listing or transaction fees. The company charges sellers fees to list an item for purchase or transaction costs based on the final value of the item at the successful completion of an auction.

Is Google an example of monopoly? ›

Is Google a Monopoly or Oligopoly? The bottom line is that Google isn't a monopoly, though there is some debate when it comes to whether Google uses monopolistic behaviors to gain an unfair advantage. The current antitrust lawsuit may offer clarity on that point.

Does Xbox have monopoly? ›

+Offers in-app purchases. Online multiplayer on console requires Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Live Gold (subscription sold separately).

Is Apple a monopoly or oligopoly? ›

1. Apple is an oligopoly. It follows aggressive advertising practices as its strategy of capturing a large segment of the market. Only a few companies are selling devices similar to those produced by Apple.

Is Zara a monopoly? ›

In a monopolistically competitive industry, Zara is expected to make profits in the short run but will break even in the long run because demand will decrease as average total costs increase. This means in the long run, a monopolistically competitive firm, such as Zara, will make zero economic profit (AmosWEB, 2001).

Why is Google being sued 2023? ›

Google LLC is an ongoing federal antitrust case brought by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) against Google LLC on January 24, 2023. The suit accuses Google of illegally monopolizing the advertising technology (adtech) market in violation of sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

Are monopolies illegal? ›

Law Prohibiting Illegal Monopolies

Anticompetitive monopolization violates federal antitrust law, notably the Sherman Antitrust Act, and are prohibited by state antitrust law, including the Cartwright Act in California.

Is there a perfect monopoly? ›

In a monopolistic market, there is only one firm that dictates the price and supply levels of goods and services. A perfectly competitive market is composed of many firms, where no one firm has market control. In the real world, no market is purely monopolistic or perfectly competitive.

What is the best example for monopoly competition? ›

Restaurants, hair salons, household items, and clothing are examples of industries with monopolistic competition. Items like dish soap or hamburgers are sold, marketed, and priced by many competing companies.

Is Nike a monopoly? ›

The company is operating under the oligopoly market structure. It has close competitors such as Puma, Adidas, and Armour among others.

Does Disney have a monopoly? ›

A monopoly by definition, is the exclusive possession or control of the supply of a service. According to the letter of the law, Disney is an oligopoly, a state of limited competition in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.

What is McDonald's monopoly? ›

How does McDonald's Monopoly work? McDonald's Monopoly is 'free to play' for customers when they buy food from McDonald's. Most menu items come with game pieces that allow customers to win a variety of prizes.

Is electricity a monopoly? ›

Natural Monopolies. A natural monopoly exists when average costs continuously fall as the firm gets larger. An electric company is a classic example of a natural monopoly.

How is AT&T a monopoly? ›

AT&T historically argued that telephone service was a natural monopoly and that competition was inefficient. As the competitive era of telephone service came to a close, AT&T was successful in its argument and was able to establish itself as a government sanctioned monopoly.

Is Google considered a monopoly? ›

As a result of its illegal monopoly, and by its own estimates, Google pockets on average more than 30% of the advertising dollars that flow through its digital advertising technology products; for some transactions and for certain publishers and advertisers, it takes far more.

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