Big Four

English

Alternative forms

• Big 4

Proper noun

Big Four

1. (historical) The four top Allied powers of World War I and their leaders: David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy and Woodrow Wilson of the United States, who met at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 at Versailles.

   Synonyms: Council of Four, The Four Nations

2. A group of four entrepreneurs who formed the Central Pacific Railroad.
3. (music) A jazz rhythm derived from the marching band beat.
4. Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly; as:
   1. (finance) The four largest banks in any of various countries, or (internationally) the Federal Reserve, People's Bank of China, Bank of Japan, and European Central Bank.
      • 2023 October 30, Kevin Peachey, “Big banks accused of doing little for savers”, in BBC News‎^[1] (news), BBC:

        Banks have been reporting their results in recent days, with HSBC the latest to reveal higher profits. It is one of the so-called big four, which also includes Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. ¶ In response. Harriett Baldwin, who chairs the Treasury Committee, said: "The big four banks have been far too slow to reward savers through better rates on instant access savings accounts."

   2. (finance, business, technology) The four largest corporations of Big Tech during the 2000s-2020s, usually defined as Alphabet (f.k.a. Google), Meta (f.k.a. Facebook), Amazon, and Apple.
   3. (business, accounting) The four largest global auditing firms, comprising Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC.
      • 2023 November 4, Stephen Foley, Michael O'Dwyer, “Engineer pulls off structural change to lead Big Four firm”, in FT Weekend, page 13:

        That earned him a professional license he would need if he wanted to rise to the role of US senior partner at PwC, where he leads the Big Four firm's global advisory business and is co-head of its US consulting practice.

   4. (UK, historical) The four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923–1947: the Great Western Railway (GWR); the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER); and the Southern Railway (SR).
      • 1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, pages 223-224:

        In several respects, the conditions which prevailed when this great venture was begun differed greatly from those in which the "Big Four" companies had embarked upon their previous regime in 1923.

Coordinate terms

• Big One/big one, big two, Big Three, big five, big six, big eight

See also

• big business