Coronavirus scrambles tech's ecology

The coronavirus crisis has reset the tech industry's ecology with the speed and force of a meteor hitting a planet. Just as the industry's tools and services have shaped our experience of this disastrous moment, the pandemic has reshaped the industry itself in a matter of weeks. Big Tech's giant apex predators will strengthen their dominance while facing new threats. In the middle ranks of the industry, where freshly IPOed newcomers on the way up pass middle-aged firms on their way down, chaos and carnage loom. Tech's teeming underbrush of small startups will grow less crowded and more diverse. The scale, reach and power of tech's giants looks less like a danger and more like a public good at this pivotal moment. All this will give these companies a freer hand to pursue new markets, buy up potential competitors and fend off regulators than they had before.