This is how much each minute of internet downtime would cost tech giants and different...

[midian182]

In brief: The world's reliance on being online can't be overstated. Even if we lost all internet and mobile connectivity just for a minute, it would cost countries' economies millions of dollars, while big companies would lose hundreds of thousands.

Even though a complete global internet outage is unlikely to happen, the consequences of such an event would be financially disastrous. PCMag used the Cost of Shutdown Tool from NetBlocks to estimate how a shutdown would impact the world economy, individual countries, and big tech companies.

The data estimates that a single minute of total internet outage would cost the global economy just over $20 million. The US would be hit hardest, losing $7.6 million, followed by China ($6.8 million), the UK ($2.2 million), Japan ($1.8 million), and Germany ($1 million).

It would only take a day for those figures to reach hundreds of millions and several billion dollars in losses. If we all survived a year, it would be in the trillions - $4 trillion for the US, specifically.

Looking at the different companies impacted by an internet shutdown, one might imagine that Google parent Alphabet would be the biggest loser. But while the company is second on the list with a loss of $538,120 per minute, it's still behind Amazon. With its shopping, AWS, and streaming businesses inaccessible, the firm would lose close to $1 million each minute the world was offline. A year with no internet would cost Amazon almost $514 billion.

The figures use company revenue for 2022. That was before OpenAI fully launched ChatGPT, so the AI company would likely rank higher on the list if more recent revenue numbers were used.

PCMag has chosen companies that are most reliant on the internet. Firms such as Intel, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia would undoubtedly lose a lot of money if the internet was suddenly disrupted, but the companies were around in the early/pre-internet days of the nineties, so they would probably survive with their hardware and software endeavors.

Make sure to check out the full article at PCMag.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101528-how-much-minute-long-internet-outage-could-cost.html

 

[Beerfloat]

That's a lot of money. I would be happy just to get a dime every time some user walks up to tech support and cries that 'the Internet is down'.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

And if you calculated how much money would be lost if manufacturing stopped for one minute worldwide it would be huge as well.

But the number is meaningless.

Most of the “lost” money would simply shift to the next uptime. People still need to buy whatever from Amazon. And even ad revenue could recover as people catch up on their cat videos on YT.

 

[Dr Roboto]

Maybe the issue is that Tech Companies have forced the internet down our throat in products that don't really need it, just so they can collect more data and sell us more stuff. Seriously, the whole Internet of Things (IoT) is all about collecting data over the internet on even the smallest of devices (microcontrollers in your toasters). Sure, the data they collect can be used to really increase the quality of a product. As an engineer, I totally get it. However, I feel like even the simplest things have an "app" for it. For example, I went to my kids basketball game this weekend, but they couldn't get the fancy new scoreboard to work because it required the user (a randomly different parent for each game) to install an "app" to set it up and make it work correctly.

I think worst of all is the move to the "cloud". Again, there is some really advantages of cloud computing. However, things like Windows 11 literally defaulting all of your data storage (My Documents, Pictures, etc.) to One Drive is absolute BS. Microsoft only wants you to buy the online Office 360 instead of the one you install on your PC. Heck, even Nvidia want your graphics cards to be online devices that you "rent". Apple, your not any better with the default setting of trying to push all your Pictures and data to iCloud.

I could go on and on. Heck as I type this, I am literally WFH today due to the snow. Internet is an amazing tool, but Tech has integrated it in too almost everything we do. While that is great for somethings, it totally makes everything we do dependent on the internet. Heck, half the programs on my computer don't work if I can't access the internet to "authenticate" my license. Don't even get me started on trying to play games offline.

Now get off my lawn. I have some clouds to yell at.

 

[StupidPeopleSuk]

Many many years ago, I was helping a friend of mine, who is an IT guy for a very large tech company, with replacing some cat6 cables in their server room. In the middle of our work, he made the comment that he believed that "the internet is everything" and "we are the internet"

To which I replied, with a smirkish grin, "everything is the internet" and "the internet is us"....he laughed & said I was just trying to be sarcastic and inject some humor into what was a dull, boring, and time-consuming assignment...

Fast forward 10 or so years, and he asked me if I was the one who came up with the "IoT" moniker that was quickly becoming mainstream BS.... to which I replied, again with a smirkish grin... "NOPE, that was YOUR fault, so quit trying to blame me for that ****"

 

[erickmendes]

A year without internet and the world would turn into a version of Mad Max.

 

[Bamda]

A few months ago I was down for about 2 days. I lost zero dollars. But McDonalds earned a few more dollars.