Hello and Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a wonderful 2024... we have some big news here at Chartr (more below). Today's charts explore:
Viva la resolutions
Dust off the exercise bike; dip into that new cookbook; dig out your gym membership; devise an unsustainable savings plan… It’s that time of year when millions of us make — and, yes, often break — new resolutions in our quest for self-improvement.
While setting annual goals certainly isn’t for everyone, those who do resolve to change aspects of their lives tend to have different ideas about what “new year, new me” actually means, and age is often a major factor.
Issue already resolved
Putting aside more cash, for example, is a bigger priority for Americans aged 18-29 than those over 65. Indeed, some 37% of the younger cohort said they’re planning to save more in 2024, compared to just 9% of the oldest group that YouGov surveyed in December. That’s perhaps not surprising, given that the Baby Boomer generation reportedly holds some $78 trillion of the nation’s wealth, a little over half of the total.
Adults between 18-29 are also more likely to prioritize their mental health, with 35% of those respondents aiming to improve their mental well-being, while the most common 2024 goals for the 65+ cohort tend to be physical health-related (losing weight or exercising more).
Interestingly, 15% of Americans are hoping to read more in the new year — a bar that shouldn’t be too high for many, given that another recent YouGov survey found that only 54% of Americans finished a book last year.
Xcavated
Elon Musk’s X (the platform formerly, and often still, known as Twitter) has shed ~72% of its value since the billionaire took over, according to a monthly fund disclosure from investment giant Fidelity.
It’s been a tumultuous 14 months for the social media company since Musk completed the $44 billion acquisition in October 2022, with Fidelity cutting the value of its stake in the platform almost ever since the deal crossed the line.
Indeed, political controversy, a smattering of content and feature overhauls, and a somewhat heavy-handed response to an advertiser exodus have all contributed to a series of markdowns from the mutual fund. Fidelity now values its X investment at just $5.6 million, down from $19.7 million when Musk finalized the deal, although it’s worth noting that it’s not clear how much, if any, additional insight Fidelity has into X’s financial performance.
Ad hoc
While a number of sources, including comments from Musk himself, have reported that the company’s advertising revenue has dropped 40-50% in recent quarters, execs have been keen to tout X's newly diversified revenue streams, with subscriptions and data licensing deals making up some of the advertising shortfall. The company has also, presumably, reduced costs, given that some 80% of the workforce was cut after the takeover. Indeed, Musk has generally remained optimistic, seeing a path to a $1 trillion market cap for the company back in August — a figure that would make it worth more than Meta, and ~37x more valuable than Snapchat.
Election season
It’s a good year to be in the business of political punditry, with more than 70 countries, representing over 4 billion people, set to head to the polls in 2024, according to The Economist.
While the US Presidential election will likely dominate international headlines, it is India that will actually undertake the largest democratic exercise globally: its 900 million registered voters are set to take center stage in May, as Narendra Modi's ruling BJP looks to secure a third term in power.
Of course, significance isn’t determined solely by numbers. In 10 days, Taiwan’s population of 24 million will elect a new leader to steer the country through its rocky relationship with mainland China, as tensions escalate sharply.
Not all votes count the same
The record number of elections this year is testament to the decades of progress that have seen democracies flourish, with a majority of countries now classified as democratic regimes.
But not all elections are created equal: some 33% of countries — including Russia, which is set to hold an election in March that is all but guaranteed to yield Putin as the winner — are classified as “electoral autocracies” by the V-Dem project, meaning that their elections lack meaning, freedom, and fairness. Indeed, some analysts believe democracy has lost ground in recent years.
Zooming out: This year’s elections offer another fresh challenge, as generative AI tools may now be used to spread misinformation more effectively than ever.
• Higher minimum wages in the US went into effect on Jan 1st — and are estimated to boost the incomes of almost 10 million workers across 22 states.
• A chess player was fined €100 ($111) by the International Chess Federation for wearing a pair of Burberry sneakers that were deemed too “sporty”.
• Gone flat: Beer drinking in the US fell to the lowest level in a generation last year, after shipments dipped below 200 million barrels for the first time since 1999.
• Following a series of successes, Universal Pictures overtook Disney as the highest-grossing studio at the 2023 box office for the first time since 2015, after raking in $4.9 billion globally.
• Happy 2024! Here’s how the New Year was celebrated around the globe.
• Sometimes Apple does fall far from the tree…12 of the iPhone-maker’s most rotten products.
Off the charts: What annual health trend, started a decade ago in the UK, are we charting about below? [Answer below].
