Posts

Many of the top websites in 1998 were news aggregators or search portals, which are easy concepts to understand. Today, brand touch-points are often spread out between devices (e.g. mobile apps vs. desktop) and a myriad of services and sub-brands (e.g. Facebook’s constellation of apps). As a result, the world’s biggest websites are complex, interconnected web properties. The visualization above, which primarily uses data from ComScore’s U.S. Multi-Platform Properties ranking, looks at which of the internet giants have evolved to stay on top, and which have faded into internet lore....

The size of the bitcoin market may still be microscopic when contrasted with other global markets, but that hasn’t stopped the eight-year-old cryptocurrency, as well as the surrounding blockchain ecosystem, from evolving. As Bitcoin Magazine points out in its article accompanying this infographic: The blockchain, which is the technological infrastructure behind how Bitcoin transactions work, is now much more heralded in many circles than the original cryptocurrency itself. That’s because it is now clear how the blockchain can be further applied to many other disciplines, including payments, trading assets digitally, identity management, data verification, and smart contracts....

Employees Versus Revenue In order to be considered one of the largest corporations in America, a company needs to have thousands of employees and billions in revenue. Yet, while it may be intuitive to expect the top companies to be leaders in terms of both revenue and headcount, it’s actually much less common than one would think. Compare the above list based on number of employees to our previous post on the largest company in each state by revenue to see the very limited overlap....

And although the broad commodity market finished up 17.6% on the year, the performances of individual commodities were all over the map. For those familiar with the sector, that’s pretty much par for the course. That said, the lack of an obvious correlation in commodity markets also makes for a thought-provoking and humbling exercise: comparing the annual returns of commodities against the data from the past decade. A Decade of Commodities (2010-2019) Today’s visualization comes to us from U....

A lagging stock market dented these fortunes against high interest rates, energy shocks, and economic uncertainty. But some of the world’s billionaires have flourished in this environment, posting sky-high revenues in spite of inflationary pressures. With data from Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List, we feature a snapshot of the richest people in the world in 2023. Luxury Mogul Takes Top Spot The world’s richest person is France’s Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of LVMH....

The World Risk Report, which is published each year, looks at the risks of natural disasters in this way. The model used in the report takes into consideration the exposure of countries to natural disasters, but also their ability to cope and deal with such events. The end result is a World Risk Index that ranks 171 countries based on the risk that natural disasters can pose. The below graphic comes from The Guardian, where data from the report was visualized....

In markets, hedge fund managers are considered the big fish in the pond. Not only do they oversee billions of dollars in capital, they often earn some billions as well. Here’s a look at the earnings of the top 10 managers, where yearly earnings range between a high of $1.8 billion and a low of $835 million. Entering the World of Billions Although fees in the wealth management industry have been subject to downward pressure for years, the earnings for the best in the business have been left largely unabated....

This Stunning 3D Map Shows U.S. Economic Contribution by City The United States economy makes up about 23.3% of global output and boasts annual economic productivity of $17.3 trillion. In the past, we’ve shown a visualization comparing all of the world’s economies, a direct comparison between the economies of the United States and China, and even the U.S. GDP by a state-by-state comparison. Today’s 3d visualization, using recent data from the U....

When did humans domesticate other animals, and why? This timeline highlights the domestication period of 15 different animals, based on archeological findings. Because exact timing is tricky to pinpoint and research on the topic is ongoing, these estimates may vary by thousands of years. Defining Domestic The domestication of animals is a particular process that’s done through selective breeding. Generally speaking, domestic animals follow most of these criteria: Domestication is not the same as taming an animal, which is when humans condition wild animals to live in captivity....

After a difficult year marred by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and crude prices in the $50-60 per barrel range, analysts warned that the energy sector needed a strong recovery to offset a rising (and expiring) mountain of debt. Instead, the oil patch has seen one bombshell after another, and the impacts are adding up. Fueling the Wave’s Growth The new year opened with a U.S. attack on a top-ranking Iranian general in Baghdad, followed by an Iranian counterattack on two bases in Iraq that hosted U....

Turning Down Billions: Grading 15 Tech Companies that Declined Big Takeover Offers If you were to ask legendary investor Peter Thiel about the most important moment in Facebook history, he would point to an exchange in July 2006. Yahoo had made the lucrative offer of $1 billion for Facebook, and Peter Thiel as well as board member Jim Breyer got called into a meeting about the deal with Mark Zuckerberg. “Both Breyer and myself on balance thought we probably should take the money,” recalls Thiel....

Nuclear power accounts for 5.7% of the world’s energy and 13% of the world’s electricity. Uranium, used in nuclear power, is a relatively clean source of energy that does not produce greenhouse emissions. Uranium is extremely dense – it is nearly as heavy as gold. It is, however, about 500 times more common than gold in the earth’s crust. This infographic covers the history of uranium, its properties, the supply and demand forecasts, the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power, uranium as an energy source, and military applications....

Investors and wealth managers are always looking to capitalize on their investments—and the latest innovations are arming them with more efficient tools to get there. Fintech solutions are increasingly being adopted among the digitally active population, as 64% of surveyed wealth managers consider digitization essential in 2019. Today’s graphic from Raconteur highlights the benefits of investment technology, and touches on shifting sentiments in human vs. digital interactions. Where do investors and wealth managers see the next epoch of investment fintech heading?...

Since then, according to the latest figures by the IMF, the number has ballooned to $69.3 trillion with a debt to GDP ratio of 82% — the highest totals in human history. Which countries owe the most money, and how do these figures compare? The Regional Breakdown Let’s start by looking at the continental level, to get an idea of how world debt is divided from a geographical perspective: In absolute terms, over 90% of global debt is concentrated in North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe — meanwhile, regions like Africa, South America, and other account for less than 10%....

This interactive chart from the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveals how the global pandemic has affected both nominal and real wages, as well as unemployment rates. The date of data collection varies on a country-by-country basis, using the most recent available data. The most recent measurement of wage indices is from September 2020 in some countries and the least recent available data comes from Q2’2020. In select countries the date of unemployment rates and wage indices are different....

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the two entities came into effect on January 1st, 2021, corresponding with the UK officially leaving the EU Single Market and Customs Union on the same day. The new deal will help the status quo of trade continue, but how important is trade between the EU and the UK? This visualization, using data from the British House of Commons’ Statistics on UK-EU Trade Briefing Paper, reveals the significance of trade between the UK and EU member states....

Where is Peak Coal in China? With supply remaining abundant and demand staying weak, the debate continues on when Peak Coal will occur in China. However, as Wood Mackenzie notes in today’s infographic, it is perhaps more a question of “where” rather than “when”. China’s a big and diverse place. The country not only has world’s largest population, but it is second biggest in land mass as well. It’s really a question of the provinces in China, and their respective trends in growth and electricity generation....

Natural gas prices have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exacerbating an already tight supply situation. Making matters worse, Moscow has since cut gas exports to Europe to multi-year lows, sending Europe’s gas price to almost 10 times its pre-war average. Using data from BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, the above infographic provides further context on the gas market by visualizing the world’s largest gas producers in 2021....

This World Beer Index from Expensivity compares the average price of a bottle of beer in 58 countries in a detailed map. Additionally, we show which countries spend the most on beer per capita, and just how much beer people really drink. Pricey Pints: The Average Beer Price Researchers calculated the average price of a typical bottle of beer (330ml, just shy of a pint) from well known brands via online stores and statistics database Numbeo....

While we all see the same sky, we see it a bit differently depending on where we stand. For those in the planet’s most extreme regions, the sun doesn’t follow the same pattern of seasons as it does in more temperate regions. Today’s visualization comes from Sleepopolis and summarizes the top cities on each continent that receive the most and least annual sunshine hours. Ranked: Cities with the Least and Most Sunshine Hours While the graphic groups the top five cities from each continent, the tables below highlight the top 10 cities from around the world that boast the highest and lowest annual sunshine hours....