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Yesterday, user-friendly payment processor Stripe announced a strategic investment and partnership from Visa that values the company at $5 billion. Other investors that participated are not unknowns either: Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, American Express, and Sequoia. It was only in December that Stripe was valued at $3.5 billion and in their previous financing, they were valued at just half of that. Stripe will use Visa’s international connections to help it expand beyond the 20 countries it currently services....

Regardless of whether you are opening a lemonade stand or you’re a leading executive at a Fortune 500 company, risk is an inevitable part of the game. Taking bigger risks can generate proportional rewards – and sometimes, such as for the companies you’ll read about below, the risk-taking backfired to queue up some of the biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Going For Broke Today’s infographic comes to us from TitleMax, and it highlights the 20 biggest bankruptcies in the country’s history....

Are governments making promises about pensions that they might not be able to keep? According to an analysis by the World Economic Forum (WEF), there was a combined retirement savings gap in excess of $70 trillion in 2015, spread between eight major economies.. The WEF says the deficit is growing by $28 billion every 24 hours – and if nothing is done to slow the growth rate, the deficit will reach $400 trillion by 2050, or about five times the size of the global economy today....

The World’s Most Valuable Substances by Weight In the field of economics, the laws of supply and demand state that the price of a product and its available supply to the market are interconnected. For example, if a good such as crude oil is produced in excess, the price will drop accordingly. However, sometimes substances are nearly impossible to produce in the first place – and that means that it can be extremely difficult for the market to respond to increases in demand....

Every plastic fork and bottle cap bobbing along the surface of the ocean has made its way to the ocean from dry land at some point. As it turns out, the hydrological cycle that keeps water circulating around the planet is also an effective means for trash to hitch a ride from our riverside cities to the open ocean. As today’s unique, vintage-themed map – via John Nelson at ESRI – visualizes the shocking amount of plastic emitted by major rivers in the world....

Interactive: Tracking the Energy Titans Comparing USA, China, and Canada in terms of energy Today’s interactive infographic comes to us from the Wilson Center, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. This in-depth series of charts and data extensively covers energy consumption, production, imports, and exports in three different countries: China, Canada and the United States. These energy titans all have significantly different economies, so the comparison becomes very interesting....

It covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, is home to millions of species of life, and it makes up 97% of all water on the planet. But, with this massive size and ubiquity also comes a significant challenge for humans interested in trade: it must be constantly traversed in order for us to move goods around. As a result, millions of people hit the high seas each day to get cargo from one place to another....

If an area sees a high number of migrants, along with a strong birth rate and low death rate, then its population is bound to increase over time. On the flip side, if more people are leaving the area than coming in, and the region’s birth rate is low, then its population will likely decline. Which areas in the United States are seeing the most growth, and which places are seeing their populations dwindle?...

Since the early 20th century, the use of cannabis for any purpose fell out of favor by both regulators and Western culture at large. In the United States, a wave of regulations made access to cannabis more difficult starting from the late 1900s, ultimately culminating in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which effectively made cannabis use a federal offense. Meanwhile, prohibition in Canada lasted for 85 years until being lifted by recent developments....

The Washington Post has put together an extraordinary data visualization that shows how the United States has generated its electricity so far this year. Using data from the Energy Information Administration, they have mapped every power source and categorized it by type and size. Related Topic: What it Takes to Power New York (Slideshow) I will recap the most interesting parts of their project here, but we highly recommend that you visit their online interactive version of this visualization to get the most out of their work....

This visualization of household incomes is from an interactive map created by the Washington Post that allows users to zoom in on individual counties to see how income has changed over the years. Some of the more interesting revelations include: Income peaked one year ago for many of the counties that are a part of the shale boom. This includes much of North and South Dakota, as well as parts of Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma....

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Every year, the United States government spends the equivalent of $3,300 for each working citizen on its military budget. In aggregate, this grand total of $610 billion in defense spending amounts to about half of the dollars globally spent on the military. With $216 billion spent per year, China has the next largest budget by far. But, to get to a number even close to U....

To get there, businesses not only need to think long term, but they also need to do what is considered “right” in every possible situation. Aspiring companies must be truly customer-centric, going above and beyond in how they treat their customers. They also require a cohesive vision that helps create a loyal and fervent fanbase that will go to bat for them anytime it’s needed. The Best and Worst Reputations in America Today’s infographic from TitleMax highlights the 10 organizations that have the best reputations in the country, followed by 10 that fall on the exact opposite end of the spectrum....

The ranking uses annual data from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to visualize the countries whose citizens are receiving the highest number of U.S. immigrant visas. U.S. Immigration Processes The process of U.S. immigration is confusing at best, but it always starts with a visa. A visa, in the context of immigration, is essentially a permit to enter the country, issued to those looking to work and live in the United States....

These veteran billionaires are worth a collective $81.4 billion and have served in posts ranging from Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) to infantrymen in the Second World War. This visual, using data from Forbes, ranks the richest living American veterans. This visual categorizes the individuals by either the military branch or war served in depending on what was applicable or determinable. I Want You for the U.S. Army According to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, there are around 18 million veterans in the U....

There are many considerations, such as: Are the social handles and domain name available? Is there a competitor already using a similar name? Can people spell, pronounce, and remember the name? Are there cultural or symbolic interpretations that could be problematic? The list goes on. These considerations are amplified when a company is already established, and even more difficult when your company serves billions of users around the globe. Facebook (the parent company, not the social network) has changed its name to Meta, and we’ll examine some probable reasons for the rebrand....

The Basics of Options Trading For new investors, trading options can be somewhat daunting because of the lingo and perceived sophistication. However, as you will see, it is quite simple and can be an effective tactic for speculation or hedging one’s position. Here are some of the basics of options trading. An option is the right, but not obligation, to purchase an underlying security at a certain price in the future....

Stocks had just finished the worst year in a decade. Then in early January, Apple cut its earnings guidance after the company had already lost over $400 billion in market capitalization. The S&P 500 and DJIA seesawed, suggesting that the lengthy bull run could come to an end. Yet, here we are a year later ⁠— we’re wrapping up the decade with a banner year for the S&P 500. As of the market close on December 30, 2019, stocks were up 28....

While opioid abuse is a nationwide problem, there are specific areas that are being hit harder by this epidemic. Using the location data above, from NORC at the University of Chicago, we can see clusters of counties that have an extremely high rate of overdose deaths. Between 2012 and 2016, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio saw a combined 18,000 deaths related to opioid abuse. A sharp increase in prescribed opioid-based painkillers and the rise of illegal fentanyl – which is up to 50 times stronger than heroin – has unleashed the worst public health crisis in American history....

Today, silver has thousands of modern industrial uses and is considered a store of wealth. However, the story of this legendary precious metal begins with its use by ancient civilizations. Silver has many attributes that made it so valuable to early peoples. It is malleable, ductile, lustrous, resilient, antibacterial, and rare. It was used to purify water and for ornate artwork – but more importantly it was perfectly suited to be a currency....