Today In Data: Figuring Out The New Fundamentals

Today’s conventional wisdom has a way of becoming tomorrow’s outdated – or nearly invisible – idea. In recent memory, the CW was that Google and Facebook would always control digital advertising, Apple was invincible and Amazon was indivisible – but these days, any of that could be up in the air. And, in fact, up in the air is a trend, in the U.S. and around the world, and across commerce and payments, both B2B and B2C. The smart money, in most cases, is on the in-depth study – and a willingness to be flexible and quickly adaptive.

Data:

$500 million: The amount fraudsters were nearly able to steal from Angola, but for the sharp eyes of a bank teller.

$44 million: Amount Pintec Holdings raised with its IPO on the Nasdaq last week.

70 percent: Share of top 1,000 digital firms that accept PayPal.

28 percent: Decline in prices charged to advertisers on Google, the largest dip in three years.

15 percent – 20 percent: Cost savings netted when switching from manual to automated calculation of miles for reimbursement.