Issue: 

Winning the battle, losing the war

Fly Title: 

Commercial property

Rubric: 

The rise of e-commerce has set off a boom in the market for warehouses

Location: 

NEW JERSEY

Published: 

20140802

Source: 

The Economist Newspaper

Version: 

16

Historic ID: 

VO4HQKA

Source: Assets

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Issue: 

Don’t leave us this way

Fly Title: 

Startup nations

Even Luddites know that the largest internet firms are in America. Yet the forthcoming public offering of Alibaba, an e-commerce giant, underscores that China is catching up fast. As for the rest of the world, of 50 countries examined in the World Startup Report, 30 have at least one internet company whose value has at one time surpassed billion. South Africa’s elevated rank is a nice surprise—though Naspers, a media company, is an outlier. India, despite its size and a giant IT industry, has only produced modest-sized web firms. Israel (labelled the “Start-Up Nation” in a 2009 book) and Singapore punch above their weight. Many others punch below theirs. America’s Amazon and Facebook, ranked second and third, would be the biggest in any country save for China. Google is bigger than the peak value of the top internet firms in all other 48 countries combined. Worryingly for Europe, of the top five countries, none is European.

Article body images: 

20140712_WBC309_0.png
…

Source: Assets

Audio and Video content on Economist.com requires a browser that can handle iFrames.

EVEN Luddites know that the largest internet firms reside in America. The upcoming public offering of Alibaba, an e-commerce giant, will drive home the point that China is catching up fast. But what about the rest of the world? The latest numbers from World Startup Report, a market researcher, gives an answer. Of the 50 countries they examined, 30 have at least one internet company worth more than billion. Firms outside America and China are still relatively small: Google’s market capitalisation, for instance, is bigger than the value of the top internet firms in all other 48 countries combined. And worryingly for Europe, of the top five countries with firms with the highest valuations, none is European—but three are Asian.Roll over the interactive chart above to see the company and value. If all three datapoints are not visible, it is because one is shrouded by another (ie, America’s Amazon obscures Facebook, since both are worth around 5 billion); clicking on the key at the top will remove datapoints.
Comment Expiry Date: 

Sat, 2014-07-05

Gallery, Charts and Calendars: 

20140708_STARTUPS

Source: Assets