Fifty corporations that control global wealth

This Tableau visualization is based on the work of Stefania Vitali, James B. Glattfelder, and Stefano Battiston of Systems Design, ETH Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland.

Their research method identified the corporations with the most global influence based upon a score they call 'Network Control'. 147 are identified in their paper. The graphs below show the top 50 of the 147. Update: The study first identified 737 top holders able to potentially control 80% (of the operating revenue of the 43k transnationals). The top 50 graphed below are from this list. Further, looking at the network topology, the core was formed by 1300 companies. Of these, 147 were also in the top 737, controlling about 40%. In the Supplementary Info, (here and pdf here) in the list of the top 50, these are indicated with "SCC" in the column "Network position".

Their paper, titled "The Network of Global Corporate Control" is found here:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025995

Here are my Tableau visualizations. As additional attributes, I've joined the NACE hierarchy which classifies the industry of the corporations. The instant insight is that most of them are in Finance Intermediation. The lone corporation belonging to Manufacturing is Walton Enterprises aka Wal-Mart.



( CLICK ON THE TABS OR ARROWS TO VIEW THE WORKBOOK )

Barclays in the UK stands out from the crowd. There may be further consolidation in this club, after the fall of some of the other financial firms (JPMorgan, Lehman).