Significant Digits For Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Apr. 2, 2019 , at 7:01 AM
By Oliver Roeder
You're reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
$111.1 billion last year
Saudi Aramco, the Saudi oil company, finally opened its long-secret books, revealing a net income of $111.1 billion last year, making it, according to The New York Times, "probably the world's most profitable company by far." That is nearly double the net income of Apple. [The New York Times]
2 exoplanets
A team of astronomers led by a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, Anne Dattilo, discovered two exoplanets some 1,200 light-years from Earth. They did so by using artificial intelligence to analyze data from the NASA Kepler space telescope. Hook 'em horns! [NPR]
5th era
The fifth imperial era in the modern history of Japan will begin on May 1, when Emperor Akihito plans to step down. He's the first emperor to step down in about two centuries. The era is to be called Reiwa, which roughly translates to "auspicious calm." [Bloomberg]
58.4 percent market share
In March, fully electric cars made up nearly 60 percent of the new-car market in Norway, a world record. A recent increase in the electric sales coincided with deliveries of Tesla's Model 3 and Audi's e-tron. The country aims to end sales of all fossil-fuel vehicles by 2025. [Reuters]
25 security clearances
Tricia Newbold, a White House-security-adviser-turned-whistleblower, told a House committee that her colleagues and she denied 25 security clearance applications given "concerns about blackmail, foreign influence or other red flags" — denials that were later overturned by her White House superiors. The White House declined to comment to the Post. [The Washington Post]
23rd horse
Twenty-three horses have died at the Santa Anita racetrack since late December. The latest — a horse named Arms Runner — was euthanized after a suffering an injury from a fall on the track on Sunday. Santa Anita is "fearing for its future after the spike of recent equine deaths," writes the Los Angeles Times, as the track and the sport at large are "under siege" from animal rights activists and, increasingly, the broader public. [Los Angeles Times]
From ABC News:
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Oliver Roeder was a senior writer for FiveThirtyEight. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied game theory and political competition. @ollie