I think what most people were hoping for was a tech company of FAANG relevance for Europe which is representative of some of the values and lifestyle directions that Europeans are so proud of here.

You have to admit, if you told someone in 1923 that 100 years from now, by far the most relevant technology companies will all American or Asian, they’d be a bit surprised.

> if you told someone in 1923 that 100 years from now, by far the most relevant technology companies will all American or Asian, they’d be a bit surprised.

If you told them that the war which ended five years previously would be repeated, except with greater destructive capability, resulting in the flattening of much of Europe leaving tens of millions of its citizens dead or displaced, while at the same time the Washington Naval Treaty being signed in 1923 ultimately failed to contain the Japanese entering the technological arms race, they might be less surprised about that outcome.

(because I checked: several of the ships involved in Pearl Harbor on both sides were either in service or under construction in 1923)

I'd be very much interested to see if it's possible to compare the wealth gap and the lifestyle gap between the US and Europe to see what its peaks and troughs are over time. It was probably at its widest during the Eisenhower administration.