Commerce in an Internet Minute

By Dan Crimmins on June 8, 2016 in Investing

While we all use the internet for our daily lives, the grand scale of human activity which occurs on the internet each day is hard to comprehend. The graph highlights what happens in an “internet minute” in 2016. The pace will only grow in the coming decades.

Several items to note: Several of these companies were not even in existence 10 years ago. Uber (Uber Technologies Inc.) which developed in 2009 is an American multinational online transportation network company headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to submit a trip request which is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. As of April 12, 2016, the service was available in over 60 countries and 404 cities worldwide. Users requested 1, 389 rides a minute.

Spotify is a Swedish commercial music streaming and video service that provides music from record labels and media companies. It is available in most of the Americas and Western Europe. Spotify was launched in September 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB. As of June 2015, Spotify had more than 75 million active users, including about 20 million paid users. The amount of paid subscribers reached 30 million in March 2016. Spotify Ltd. operates as the parent company, headquartered in London.

In addition, the commerce that is conducted by large international companies just on the internet is staggering. Amazon (Amazon.com, Inc. ) is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company with headquarters in Seattle, WA. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore and later diversified to sell all items available at the largest retail stores such as apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewelry.

In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by stock market value. It’s “one minute internet” sales in 2016 were $203,596.

Netflix is a global provider of streaming movies and TV series. Netflix started as an American DVD-by-mail service in 1998, and began streaming in 2007. Netflix expanded its reach and now serves over 190 countries. Netflix produces hundreds of hours of original programming around the world. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, CA.

As of April 2016, Netflix reported over 81 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 46 million in the U.S. It’s “one minute” internet stat is 69,444 hours watched per minute.

What is coming next for the internet?

The benefits for humans from the internet have been tremendous. And for investors, these companies have been able to profit from these advancements. As we have always stated, owning the great companies in the U.S. and world like those highlighted above is the key to achieving each of our opportunities. Focus on the exciting future and not the current headlines.

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