what companies are monopolies 
historically among the most notable monopolies in american history are standard oil u s steel and american tobacco along with this at t was a major monopoly until 1982 when the u s government broke up its business in order to provide customers with more options and lower prices due to increased competition the bottom linemonopolistic markets exist when there is a single supplier in the market which allows them to have significant pricing power due to the absence of competitors given that they operate as price makers controlling the cost and supply of goods profits are maximized prices are inflated and consumers have limited choices these type of markets have spanned throughout america s history dominating industries from railroads to telecom given their high infrastructure costs and significant barriers to entry 