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I've never really thought about this topic before.  It's pretty common for folks to think we need the FTC and that unrestrained capitalism tends to monopolization, but thsi discussion suggests that is far from being obvious and could simply be wrong.

Again I think this is a case of so narrowly defining an industry such that you can talk about a monopoly that has zero power to exploit their monopoly, much as when Sirius and XMRadio merged. Except even less so, because an Uber/Lyft merger wouldn't have the same barriers to entry as two entities that had to launch satellites into space. All it would take is another app popping up.

I.e. what will happen if Airbnb and Vrbo merge? Where will I advertise my short-term rental?

What if Tinder buys EHarmony and Bumble? Where will anyone find a hookup? A **BAR** where they have to actually talk to someone face to face, like a neanderthal?!?!

I do share your fear of monopolies, especially if a monopoly was to form in a critical sector that we all have very little alternative to participate in (we'll use gasoline as an example). If someone cornered the world market on gasoline forming a monopoly, there's not much we could do to avoid paying whatever they asked.

But if you're worried about Uber/Lyft merging, I think you're reaching...

I would argue in many places, this is exactly what happened. The taxi market in some places is SEVERELY restricted, such as NYC where taxi medallions are limited in number presumably to reduce supply (and increase rates). In other places the taxi market was merely complacent because they had no real competition. In both cases the outcome was simple; higher prices and worse service.

In most cases, taxis, by being regulated industries, had naturally higher costs and compliance burdens, which further limited supply even in places where they didn't have hard numerical limits like NYC.

So in a lot of ways, taxes were effectively a regulated monopoly in many places, not unlike an electric or gas company.

Uber and Lyft sidestepped that by offering taxi-like services without going through the regulatory burden that taxis were subjected to. Essentially they did an end-run around all regulations, and then by the time gov'ts started trying to regulate them, they were too big (and too popular) to simply ban them.