How Microsoft is dodging the move to regulate Big Tech

New York CNN Business — Microsoft’s market dominance is extraordinary at a time when so much focus is on the immense power of Big Tech. But Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in a speech at the DC Economic Club on Monday that “the government needs to get involved.” Gates, who retired from day-to-day work at Microsoft more than a decade ago and stepped down as chairman in 2014, added that “there will be more regulation of the tech sector, things like privacy.” Gates also said he thinks that “the technology companies, partly because of the lesson of Microsoft” are now “very engaged” with regulators. Microsoft is a leader in many markets but now has several big rivals Microsoft has also avoided regulatory scrutiny because it isn’t as dominant in its many businesses as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are in online retail, music and mobile apps, social networking and search. That’s why Microsoft may continue to avoid the glare of regulators, even as Trump and Congress target Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google.