Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, author Phil Simon, and NYU professor Scott Galloway have each grouped these four companies together, on the basis that those companies have driven major societal change via their dominance and role in online activities. This is unlike other large tech companies such as Microsoft and IBM, according to Simon and Galloway.[31][32] In 2011, Eric Schmidt excluded Microsoft from the grouping, saying "Microsoft is not driving the consumer revolution in the minds of the consumers."[33]