No Korean Internet Company Makes It to Top 20
The world’s top 20 Internet companies in terms of market capitalization include no South Korean company. The list, announced by investment guru Mary Meeker, consists of 11 U.S. companies and nine Chinese ones.
The Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) attributed the absence of South Korean companies in the list to business regulations hindering innovative growth.
According to the report, Naver, Yahoo Japan and Rakuten, which put their names on the list in 2013, were driven out by Chinese companies this year. The number of Chinese companies on the list increased from three to nine during the same period. Tencent, Baidu and NetEase have remained on the list and Alibaba and Didi Chuxing Technology have been newly included in the list this year.
U.S. Internet companies’ market cap surged during the period. For instance, Apple’s market cap jumped from US$418 billion to US$924 billion from 2013 to 2018. Those of the rest of the top five – Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook – grew no less than 547%, 158%, 156% and 860%, respectively. The KERI explained that this is based on business environments friendly to innovators.