In 2013, a new acronym transformed the way we talk about big tech. Mad Money host Jim Cramer identified the four companies he saw as “totally dominant in their markets,” being Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. What does that spell? FANG, a catchy acronym that quickly became shorthand for some of the world’s biggest companies.
In 2017, Cramer added another A, this time for Apple, taking the acronym from FANG to FAANG. But in the decade since, plenty of new players have staked a claim in the tech industry, especially given the rise of AI. It’s about time to give FAANG a refresh, and a viral post on X may have done just that.
Enter a new acronym that reassesses the state of big tech: MANGO. That stands for Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, and OpenAI.
The acronym was coined by software engineer Krishna (@krishdotdev on X), who declared, “It’s not FAANG anymore. It’s MANGO,” in a post on June 8. Krishna’s post quickly racked up 2.3 million views as social media considered MANGO’s merits.
The companies that made up FAANG were chosen based on their stock market dominance, and the proposed companies for MANGO fit that bill for 2026. Meta, Nvidia, and Google all fall within the top five AI companies for market capitalization. Meanwhile, Anthropic and OpenAI are gearing up for their IPOs, which are expected to have valuations around $1 trillion each.
In an email to Fast Company, Krishna says that the acronym “blew up way faster than I expected.”
“The idea came from [the] recent AI boom caused by top companies. I felt Meta, Apple, Nvidia, Google, and OpenAI deserved inclusion because they have been playing a major role in AI driven tools & development,” he wrote. “It’s wild seeing social media run with it, but I’m happy it sparked some conversation.”
Krishna added that he actually prefers the acronym MANGOS, with an S added for SpaceX, a company he says is “contributing vastly in AI.”
On social media, other users are running with the term, with another viral post calling MANGOS “the new world order.”
“FAANG hired developers,” another user observed. “MANGOS is replacing them.”
“FAANG was the internet era. MANGOS is the AI era,” echoed a third.
Clearly, MANGOS has caught the tech industry’s attention—but if the acronym has FAANG’s staying power remains to be seen. While FAANG had thematic resonance—a toothy title for companies that could “really take a bite out of the bears,” as Cramer said at the time—MANGOS is still finding it footing. Are these the companies that will … juice the competition? Slice up the AI industry? Or are those metaphors just low-hanging fruit?
