Tim Wu

Things could go one of three ways (says the FT)

You got me, basically no different than nationalizing all the airlines

Maybe the reason Trump seems to hate Denmark, Canada, Norway, Minnesota and Vermont so much is that they are nice, decent places that work pretty well -- in other words, the opposite of everything Trump stands for.

Airlines are required to list their "all-in" prices, instead of tricking you with a $49 bait price and piling on fees, taxes etc at the final point of sale. Seems to me that's a pretty good model for most if not all of the economy.

Trump sues JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5B over alleged 'debanking' The lawsuit escalates a series of confrontations between the president and the leader of the country's biggest bank.

There is something sad and but funny about Donald Trump inadvertently taking up a left-wing concern -- the plight of the "debanked" and "unbanked" www.npr.org/2026/01/22/n...

Part II is a case study of four 20th century U.S. tech industries: automotive, aerospace, computing and telecommunications. Differential antitrust treatment of the four industries helps explain differing industry structures and succession patterns, growth and innovation.

The paper is intended for scholars and practitioners of strategic economic policy. The paper identifies three mechanisms for strengthening domestic industry: direct aid, support, and discipline. Antitrust can be used for discipline, by requiring competition instead of collusion.

"Antitrust and Industrial Policy: A Misunderstood Relationship."
This is a new draft academic paper I've been working on for a while (serious comments welcome). It suggests that the antitrust regime should be understood as a part of the industrial policy toolkit.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Opinion | Netflix? Paramount? They’re Both Terrible for Warner Bros.

Netflix? Paramount? They are both terrible for Warner Bros
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/o...

The point of having merger guidelines and structural presumptions is to discourage firms from attempting illegal mergers. Unfortunately Trump has given everyone the impression that they can get their deal through with kickbacks and ass-kissing

The Age of Extraction by Tim Wu: 9780593321249 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2025 • Tech platforms manipulate attention, extract wealth, and deepen inequality. In this new book, Tim Wu (The Attention Merchants) explains how we can reclaim control...

You can get my new book at one of these fine vendors www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177...

The law should send a simple message: Warner Bros, if you want to sell, maybe try finding a buyer who is not a direct competitor?

In a sign of how times have changed, in 1959 economists Turner and Keysen proposed a commission to breakup firms "where, for 5 years or more, one company has accounted for 50 percent or more of annual sales in the market, or four or fewer companies have accounted for 80 percent of sales”

Opinion | The Bad Reasoning in the Meta Antitrust Ruling Isn’t Even the Worst Part

My take on the ruling in the antitrust case against Facebook (Meta) - gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...

Amazing semi-lost letter from Theodore Roosevelt denouncing paid critics of antitrust and "law-defying corporations of immense wealth who ... expect[] others to treat them beyond and above any possible check from law"

Tim Wu: The Age of Extraction Can we reclaim control of our economy to make it work for everyone? What needs to be understood about the big tech platforms before that could even be attempted? Tim Wu has a plan. Wu, a scholar and t...

Last chance to catch book event in SF this evening -- www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-...

Click. Scroll. Surrender. Tim Wu Warns Against The Rise of Big Data in 'The Age of Extraction' | KQED Airdate: Monday, November 10 at 10 AM Our digital lives are increasingly dominated by a handful of powerful tech platforms. Once promising prosperity and democracy, the internet has instead allowed co...

Had a great show today on my fave radio show from when I lived in SF -- KQED Forum -- listen here.
www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

The craziest thing about the Senate D capitulation is that the Trump administration was taking the blame and showing weakness in so many ways, including losing elections. What a time to fold!

In San Francisco and experiencing that feeling when you realize you've been exposed to way too much propaganda. I mean ut has always had bad areas but remains a beautiful and vibrant city to stroll around in.

Teachout: Cuomo's economic policy 'boils down to favors' ALBANY-Appearing for the first time at the Capitol, a pair of law professors unleashed a critique of Governor Andrew Cuomo that will serve as the foundation for their Democratic primary challenge.

Eleven years ago Zephyr Teachout and I ran a campaign against Cuomo to uproot the corruption he had brought to New York and his lack of respect for the democratic process. Yesterday was a good day! www.politico.com/states/new-y...

🎧 New on Winging It: I talk with Prof Tim Wu @superwuster.bsky.social, author of the new book "The Age of Extraction" — how the Internet went from great promise to an extraction dynamic, what it means for #AI policy, & how to build a fairer digital economy.🤖

Link: open.spotify.com/episode/0ZL5...

Wish this was a better photo of Barry Lynn, Lina Khan, myself and Jonathan Kanter but it certainly captures a lot of recent anti-monopoly thinking in one frame

Tim Wu Tim Wu author page

Book tour starting next week -- coming to a city near you (probably)
timwu.net#booktour

Review | Don’t be duped by the biggest buffet in Las Vegas Caesars Palace promises a luxury buffet for $107. It still values quantity over quality.

The American framers and thinkers of that time were so well versed in Roman history and the dynamics that led republics to perpetual dictatorship -- this generation more likely to think the problem with Caesar is that the buffet is overpriced

www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/...

Thank! I have appreciated your interest, though this one tbh isn't media history

Opinion | Big Tech’s Predatory Platform Model Doesn’t Have to Be Our Future

NY Times essay adapted from my new book, "The Age of Extraction." Gift link here: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...

If you are around Oxford (UK) I'm giving a talk at the law school this Thursday at 12 at the IECL seminar room. Topic is: "The Servile State revisited" -- it is reconsideration of distributism as an alternative to brutal capitalism and communism. Open to public

I used to work in the NY AG's office. The federal indictment of Letitia James is disgusting and embarrassing. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

What’s Wrong With Las Vegas?

Las Vegas is a microcosm of the broader US economy. Mergers have led to duopoly/oligopoly. A corporate extraction imperative leads to price hikes where hotels / casinos to target big spenders. Short-term profit but longterm cost to the broader ecosystem
nytimes.com/2025/10/01/t...

Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.