Why Isn't Microsoft Included in FAANG?
Supposed question, but this acronym appears everywhere on Hacker News?
Is FAANG supposed to be big high-tech companies?
How did Netflix make the cut but not Microsoft?
It was a stock market term originally, for hot tech-y stocks. At that time, Microsoft already was already old and boring. And now it's stuck as a somewhat generic catch-all.
Maybe I’m remembering wrong but my impression of the FAANG term was that they all had fast stock growth and were known for paying high salaries. In fact a whole separate realm of high total comp.
The real injustice is that Netflix is included. It’s a lot smaller than the others. I’m pretty sure it’s to make the acronym sound better. FANG sounds better than FAAG.
IMO the lesson is that making groups of items in acronyms is not a great way to analyze the world. Remember the BRIC group of countries? Well, China took off, and the others didn’t follow the same path at all.
Other acronyms are in use to refer to tech giants, like GAFAM (which does include Microsoft but leaves out Netflix)
Back in the day it was GYM (Google/Yahoo/Microsoft)
Because that would make it harder to pronounce.
FAANG is a handy bacronym used to get the hype up and counter any FUD. In a word it's non-sense.
FSABHATMAGJJAVA doesn't have a mellifluous ring to it.