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Comment by Apocryphon | Hacker News Reader

I know it's a useful acronym, but not quite accurate. Netflix doesn't do many [0] acquisitions [1] and isn't on the same scale as the other companies other than as a desirable tech company to work at.

[0] https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/07/netflix-inc-just-m...

[1] https://www.thestreet.com/investing/netflix-acquisition-abq-...

A list like Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo! is probably more accurate, even if the last has itself been acquired.

Term pedantry aside, your point is sound. Tech's incredible journey marches on.

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It's a good acronym if you consider companies like the ones mentioned to be included. So because Google is there, Microsoft belongs there. Twitter goes with Facebook, and Spotify goes with Netflix. Yahoo! is missing but it should be IMO. It's neither huge like Google nor socially innovative like Netflix. The five mentioned companies encompass a wide range of powerful tech companies.

It's a concept that works if you don't take it too literally.

Yahoo! is gone, but until recently it used to be a tech empire of its own, acquiring startups (Flickr, Tumblr, etc.) and inventing technologies (Hadoop, Pipes, YQL). I figured they would belong on a list of big buyer tech companies.

Yahoo invented Hadoop?

A Yahoo! contractor invented Hadoop, and the company adopted it for internal use and greatly promoted it:

https://www.wired.com/2011/10/how-yahoo-spawned-hadoop/

I’d describe the acronym as ‘catchy’ more than I’d describe it as ‘useful’.

Yeah, if you lose the N, it becomes inappropriate. And GAF doesn't sound great.

Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are all West Coast tech companies that are in the top 10 largest public companies in the world by market cap. Media should really replace Netflix with Microsoft and come up with a new acronym.

IMO Netflix got on that list because of its reputation for giving good cash-based compensation in ranges that, though they probably also exist at Microsoft, does not come as easily to the rank and file SWE at Microsoft.

Netflix is in there instead of Microsoft because at the point in time Jim Cramer started shouting "FANG" Nextflix stock was a hot buy and Microsoft stock was still firmly in the Ballmer doldrums.

I remember hearing the term on Bloomberg when FAANG stocks were experiencing fantastic gains. Especially Netflix.

How about MAAAF.

Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Intel, and Amazon = MAFIA ?

GAFAM is pretty common in french. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAFAM

>A list like Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo! is probably more accurate

G for Google makes better acronyms, and you can throw in Netflix too: MAY FANG!

Netflix isn't a tech company. They are a media company that happens to use tech to deliver their content.

They're issuing a $2 billion bond offering in order to pay for content [1], and Moody's rates them Ba3 [2], junk grade. We should drop the inclusion of them with large tech firms.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-plans-2-billion-bo...

[2] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moodys-rates-netflixs-new-...

"Google isn't a tech company. They are an advertising company that happens to use tech to deliver their ads."

I don't know that this is an incorrect statement when looking at how they act. They are only a tech company in that they have decided that tech is their competitive advantage for the ads business.

If google found out tomorrow that focusing on underwater basket weaving gave them a 10% bump in ad revenue over focusing on tech, does anyone here really think they would stay focused on tech?

I guess that was my (badly made) point. It's not that the comment about Netflix isn't _true_, but that in the context of this discussion it's not particularly useful.

Accurate

If you replace alphabet with Google, here's a very catchy acronym: MAGAF.

You are missing Google, lots of Google acquisitions in the past.

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