Two for Tuesday: Two Modern Monopolies with Almost No Competition

Half the time people hear the word “monopoly,” they think of Mr. Moneybags and the fun little board game that everyone played as kids. Because, come on, the 1800s are over; thanks to anti-trust laws, REAL monopolies don’t exist, right? WRONG.

This Two for Tuesday, we’ll shed light on two modern day companies with so few competitors, they might as well have little plastic hotels and houses on every game board space.

Monsanto

You may have never heard of Monsanto but it doesn’t mean that you have never tried its products. Monsanto has a monopoly in soybean and corn traits. It controls a remarkable 90 percent of the U.S. soybean market, and it also owns 79 percent of the corn market and 60 percent of the corn and soy germplasm in the United States. Their dominance has garnered some criticism with some consumers who have filed claims of unfair treatment towards small-time farmers, as seen in this video.

http://youtu.be/-k-ZS_dPzAQ

Sirius XM Radio

Sirius XM Radio is the holding company of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, the country’s two largest satellite radio providers. At one time the companies were fierce competitors, and both were losing money. In July of 2008, the only two satellite radio companies in the country merged after more than a year of deliberation by the Justice Department on the legality. Today, the company is the only satellite radio provider in the United States. While people have plenty of free alternatives with local radio stations and internet radio providers like Pandora, Spotify and iHeartRadio that some believe discredit Sirius XM as a monopoly; anyone who prefers satellite radio services has to go through this company. Some customers have threatened to cancel subscription services after price rates increased, but others have figured out a way to get major discounts by talking to Sirius XM customer support:

Major discounts? That’s like rolling snake eyes, landing on “Go” and winning the community chest all in the same turn.

Cover Photo Source:catwalker / Shutterstock.com

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Our-Space-The-San-Jose-Group.png[/author_image] [author_info]Troy is a Junior Executive at SJG. He hails from Aurora, IL and graduated from Bradley University with a major in Advertising. Troy knows way too much about videogames and loves baseball and eating sushi.[/author_info] [/author]