By late 2025, large U.S. tech platforms such as Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook) remain conventional, highly profitable, shareholder-owned corporations whose core behavior is still profit maximization, despite increased regulatory and political pressure.

Evidence:

• Alphabet (Google)

  • Alphabet’s revenue and profits have grown substantially since 2021. For 2024 it reported about $350 billion in revenue (up ~14% YoY), with operating income of ~$112 billion and net income of ~$100 billion, reflecting very strong margins and cash generation. (assetroom.net)
  • Q4 2024 earnings showed continued double‑digit revenue growth and rising operating margins, with tens of billions in free cash flow and large share repurchases—classic profit-maximizing behavior. (finance.yahoo.com)
  • Alphabet’s market value has surged; recent analysis describes it as nearing a $4 trillion valuation and emphasizes its entrenched dominance and monetization power, not any transformation away from being a normal private profit-driven company. (barrons.com)

• Meta Platforms (Facebook)

  • Meta’s gross profit has also grown strongly: 2024 gross profit was about $134 billion, up 23% from 2023, with further double‑digit growth into 2025, indicating a thriving ad‑driven business. (macrotrends.net)
  • Equity analysts in 2025 still frame Meta purely as a return‑seeking investment, projecting significant upside based on ad monetization and AI‑driven improvements to its ad business, again underscoring its status as a standard profit‑maximizing firm. (marketwatch.com)

• Regulation vs. business model

  • The EU’s Digital Markets Act and similar measures have imposed stricter obligations on big platforms (e.g., data‑sharing, interoperability, self‑preferencing limits), and U.S. authorities have brought antitrust suits (such as United States v. Google LLC over ad tech). (en.wikipedia.org)
  • However, these actions have not turned the companies into public utilities, non‑profits, or otherwise fundamentally altered them so that they are “not allowed to be companies.” They remain listed corporations, with boards, shareholders, and strategies focused on maximizing earnings and market value.

Timing matters as well: the quote (“will not be allowed to be companies much longer”) was made in January 2021. As of November 2025—almost five years later—Alphabet and Meta are larger, more profitable, and more valuable than at the time of the prediction, and still operate in their familiar corporate form under capitalism.

Because the core claim that these platforms would no longer be allowed to operate as normal profit‑maximizing private companies has clearly not materialized by now, the prediction is wrong.