The coronavirus pandemic created winners and losers in the business world.
By March 23, Apple had lost $435 billion in market value in about five weeks and many of its retail outlets were shut as the virus pandemic walloped the global economy and stock markets. Meanwhile, a report issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 2% of small businesses surveyed had shut down permanently in March. On Dec.30, Apple’s stock market value totaled $2.29 trillion, up 133% since March 23. Meanwhile, Congress has approved nearly $300 billion in additional relief for small businesses, money that many hard-hit owners only hope can help them survive until the pandemic finally eases The success of Apple and other big technology companies and the struggles of the smallest of businesses is just one example of how the pandemic created winners and losers in the business world in 2020. Wall Street recovered after March; Main Street is still struggling. In 2020, it hasn’t been uncommon to work remotely in sweatpants — while meeting on video conferencing platforms like Zoom — hop onto an expensive high-tech exercise bike afterwards and have your favorite restaurant dish delivered to your home (by a driver trying to earn an extra buck and hoping not to catch the coronavirus). Of course, the flip side of that scenario has been deserted office buildings, empty restaurants and sparsely-populated gyms. And as few people traveled, the airline industry needed billions of dollars in aid from the government and is still threatening to lay off workers. What follows is a look at those businesses that benefitted from the pandemic and those that faltered. First, the winners: Big Tech was the big winner by far of the pandemic. Lockdown orders accelerated the big shift in life online that had already been underway. With work- and shop-from-home suddenly the norm, profits proved resilient for Big Tech even as the pandemic crushed movie theaters, malls and other industries. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google’s parent company now account for roughly 22% of the S&P 500 by themselves. Never before have five companies been so dominant on Wall Street. At the start of the year, those five accounted for less than 17% of the index. As 2020 closes, though, pressure is rising. Regulators across the country and the world are putting Big Tech under more scrutiny, which may jeopardize their leadership. As movie theaters closed and lockdowns descended across the country, people turned to the ever-growing number of video streaming services for entertainment. Americans increasing their time streaming by 75% in the second quarter from a year ago, according to Nielsen, as the pandemic accelerated the trend of people shifting to watching TV online rather than via traditional cable. Among the new services launched were NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max. Netflix was a big winner, adding 28 million subscribers through the first nine months of the year. And Disney+ gained 86.8 million subscribers in just one year, a bright spot for Walt Disney Co., whose other businesses, including movie studios and theme parks, were upended by the pandemic. As people hunkered down at home because of the coronavirus, restaurant delivery companies that were merely convenient in 2019 became essential businesses in 2020.
