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The impressive growth of social media companies in the early 2010s made many founders extremely wealthy. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the world’s richest social media entrepreneur with a personal net worth of 117 billion U.S. dollars. Zhang Yiming, the creator of TikTok, is worth 43.4 billion U.S. dollars.
Social media companies going public and being acquired
The years between 2010 and 2019 saw a flurry of social media companies filing for an initial public offering (IPO) or being acquired by bigger, public companies, generating significant amounts of wealth for their founders and early employees in the process. Facebook, which went public in May 2012, had the biggest IPO in tech and internet history until online shopping giant Alibaba went public in 2014.
Many of the richest social media entrepreneurs are connected to Facebook and most of their net worth is derived from their early investment and subsequent ownership stake in the social network. Many early Facebook investors and co-founders have used their earnings from the company to increase their wealth derived from tech. Some, such as Dustin Moskovitz, have gone on to found other companies, whereas others, like Eduardo Saverin, have become venture capitalists.
The social media era
Other social media company IPOs which created major online buzz include Twitter’s in 2013, Snap’s initial public offering four years later and more recently, Pinterest’s, which made headlines in early 2019. TikTok's founder Zhang Yiming saw an unprecedented success in 2020 and ranked second on the social media billionaires' list. The coronavirus social restrictions and lockdowns led to people resorting to TikTok as a means of entertainment and socializing. Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger netted a huge payday in 2012 when Facebook bought their then up-and-coming social network Instagram for one billion U.S. dollars – a sum which at that time was unheard of for such a transaction. However, this is nothing compared to the payout enjoyed by Jan Koum and Brian Acton two years later, whose chat service WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for a staggering 19 billion U.S. dollars – although the Facebook-Instagram deal arguably made bigger waves across the industry.
In hindsight, Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram has come to represent a turning point in tech venture capitalism, helping to define the concept of tech “unicorns” and positioning an acquisition-enabled exit as a viable and lucrative target for start-ups.
amazon.com is one of the largest e-commerce retailers by online revenue in the world. In 2023, the marketplace' net revenue reached nearly 138,943 million U.S. dollars. The revenue on ecommerceDB does not include income from subscription services and provisions for third party sales and fulfillment.
Mining Bitcoin made increasingly more money at the end of 2020, but profit growth seemingly stopped during March 2021. During the mining of cryptocurrencies, a computer is trying to solve complicated logic puzzles to verify transactions in the blockchain. When this process is completed, the miner receives cryptocurrency as a block reward. The underlying development is that machines with more computing power - or hashrate - are likely to solve more puzzles, and therefore mine more cryptocurrencies. Whether a miner can make money with this depends on various costs such as electricity consumption during this process, transaction fees or whether the hardware used is efficient or not.
As of April 10, 2024, Jack Nicklaus held the record for the most Masters Tournament victories with a total of six. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods ranked second with a total of five wins - the last time coming in 2019.
In 2022, revenues of the advertising, public relations (PR), and related services sector in the United States reached nearly 171 billion U.S. dollars, up from little more than 153 billion dollars a year earlier – an annual growth of almost 11.5 percent. For comparison, the U.S. ad, PR & media buying sector's expenses increased by 12.5 percent to about 107 billion dollars in 2022.
Ad audiences and where to find them
TV remained the leading offline advertising touchpoint in the U.S. as of December 2023. Almost half of surveyed consumers included the silver screen among the non-digital media where they came across ads throughout the four weeks preceding the data collection. However, the internet quasi ubiquity was undeniable: social media was the online channel with the highest reach in the U.S., mentioned by 44 percent of respondents. Video portals like YouTube and video streaming platforms like Netflix tied for second, each selected by 37 percent.
What Americans want from online ads: less nuisance, more fun
During the same December 2023 study, about 40 percent of U.S. consumers reported feeling annoyed by digital ads. Some 35 percent also disliked receiving online ads based on their search history. A digital format that intends to be less invasive and more conversational is that of influencer marketing. According to that survey, the most popular digital influencer categories in the U.S. were, by far comedy and music, chosen by 42 and 39 percent of responding adults, respectively.
In February 2024, the index for consumer confidence in China ranged at 89.1 points, up from 88.9 points in the previous month. The index performed a sideways movement during 2019, dropped in the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and regained its former level quickly in the second half of 2020. The index dropped again considerably between March and April 2022.
Consumer confidence Index
The consumer confidence index (CCI), also called Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) is a commonly used indicator to measure the degree of economic optimism among consumers. Based on information about saving and spending activities of consumers, changes in business climate and future spending behavior are being projected. The CCI plays an important role for investors, retailers, and manufacturers in their decision-making processes. However, measurement of consumer confidence varies strongly from country to country.
As consumers need time to react to economic changes, the CCI tends to lag behind other indicators like the consumer price index (CPI) and the producer price index (PPI).
Development in China
As shown by the graph at hand, confidence among Chinese consumers picked up since mid of 2016. In October 2017, the CCI hit a record value of 127.6 index points and entered into a sideward movement. Owing to a relative stability in GDP growth, a low unemployment rate, and a steady development of disposable household income, Chinese consumers gained more confidence in the state of the national economy. Those factors also contribute to the consumers’ spending power, which was reflected by a larger share of consumption in China’s GDP. After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, consumer confidence dropped quickly in the beginning of 2020, but started to recover in the second half of the year, leading to a v-shaped movement of the index in 2020.
As of April 2024, Jennie of Blackpink was the most followed South Korean celebrity on Instagram with approximately 84.24 million followers. The most followed individual male celebrity was V of BTS. Together with the group account of Blackpink, BTS and Blackpink member accounts made up all the leading Instagram accounts, highlighting the overall popularity of the two Kpop idol groups.
More than just Instagram followers
The popularity of Kpop stars were not limited to just Instagram posts. For example, EXO was one of SM Entertainment company’s leading idol groups with a prominent presence on SM Entertainment’s Youtube channel. The meteoric rise and popularity of Bangtan boys (BTS) also translated into strong album sales and revenue growth for Big Hit Entertainment, which was the company that managed BTS. Kpop fans did much more than following their favorite stars’ Instagram accounts.
The global appeal of Kpop
Kpop grew from a niche genre of music to a market with worldwide appeal and popularity. There were various reasons behind Kpop’s power to draw in fans; the overall package that was presented by Kpop artists offered something both new and impressive to behold for consumers. The various mediums of media through which Korean celebrities could be accessed also provided a strong connection between stars and their fans.
The European Union is comprised of 27 member states who share the European Single Market, a common trade area which ensures the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. As of 2022, the largest economies in the EU were Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, with these countries making up the vast majority of the EU's almost 15 trillion Euro GDP. The relatively small island member states of Cyprus and Malta come in at the bottom of the list, with GDPs of around 28 and 16 billion Euros respectively.
In 2023, Itau was the most valuable banking brand in Latin America, with a brand value of 8.7 billion U.S. dollars. Itau maintained its leading position in 2024 as well, despite its brand value dropping to 8.3 billion U.S. dollars. Banco do Brasil ranked second in 2024, with a value of 5.45 billion U.S. dollars, up from 4.9 billion U.S. dollars a year earlier. The Brazilian neobank, Nubank, also made the list and ranked ninth. The digital bank also saw a sharp increase in the number of its customers since 2016, but particularly after 2019.
As of 2023, the solar energy capacity in South Africa amounted to 6,164 megawatts. This represented a decrease of roughly 2.6 percent from the previous year. During the period under review, solar energy capacity grew dramatically from 262 to 6,326 megawatts in 2013 and 2023, respectively. The unstable power grid in the country is one of the reasons why residents are seeking an alternative source of electricity.
Electricity supply in South Africa
South Africa is among the largest three energy producers and suppliers on the African continent. However, the country faces constant power outages due to the lack of maintenance on its aging electrical infrastructure. Eskom is South Africa's main electricity provider. Furthermore, these lengthy power outages hurt the economy and contribute to the high unemployment rate.
Renewable energy capacity in South Africa
South Africa still has a long way to go before it can successfully reduce its carbon fingerprint. In fact, Statista’s Key Market indicators project the renewable energy share to reach around 19.3 of total energy consumption by 2029. If South Africa fully transitions to sustainable energy by 2050, solar PV plants will play a major role in the energy mix in the future.
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