Top start-up investors see mounting ‘ backlash’ against tech

LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA — Two of the technology industry’s top start-up investors took to the stage at a conference on Wednesday to decry the power that companies such as Facebook, Inc. had amassed and call for a redistribution of wealth.

Bill Maris, who founded Alphabet, Inc.’s venture capital arm and now runs venture fund Section 32, and Sam Altman, president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, said widespread discontent over income inequality helped elect US President Donald Trump and had put wealthy technology companies in the crosshairs.

“I do know that the tech backlash is going to be strong,” said Mr. Altman. “We have more and more concentrated power and wealth.”

The market capitalization of the socalled Big Five technology companies — Alphabet, Apple, Inc., Amazon, Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Facebook — has doubled in the last three years to more than $3 trillion. Silicon Valley broadly has amassed significant wealth during the latest tech boom.

Mr. Altman and Mr. Maris spoke on the final day of The Wall Street Journal DLive technology conference in Southern California.

Facebook’s role in facilitating what US intelligence agencies have identified as Russian interference in last year’s US presidential election is an example of the immense power the social media company has amassed, the investors said.

Mr. Altman said people “are understandably uncomfortable with that.”

Mr. Altman, who unequivocally rebuffed rumors that he would run for governor of California next year, said he expects more demands from both the public and policy makers on data privacy, limiting what personal information Facebook and others can collect.

Mr. Maris said regulators would have good cause to break up the big technology companies.

Facebook said last month it had discovered an operation likely based in Russia that spent $100,000 on political ads and created 470 fake accounts and pages that spread polarizing views on political and social issues.—