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Ranked: The Reputation of 100 Major Brands in the U.S.

By 9jabook • On July 28, 2021 • In vc • 4 min read

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Ranked: The Reputation of 100 Major Brands in the U.S.

Whether you’re a country or a company, brand reputation is crucial. For corporations trying to stand out amongst an array of competitors, name recognition can be make or break.

The Axios Harris Poll polled a nationally representative sample of nearly 43,000 Americans to find out which 100 companies emerge as top of mind—for better or for worse.

How is Brand Reputation Measured?

The polling process started by asking respondents which two companies they felt excelled or faltered in the U.S.—in other words, which companies were the most “visible” in their eyes.

The top 100 brands that emerged from this framework were then judged by poll respondents across seven dimensions, over three key pillars:

Character
Includes a company’s culture, ethics, and citizenship (whether a consumer shares a company’s values or the company supports good causes)
Trajectory
Includes a company’s growth prospects, vision for the future, and product and service offerings (whether they are innovative, and of high quality)
Trust
Does a consumer trust the brand in the first place?

Once these dimensions are taken into account, the final scores portray how these “visible brands” rank in terms of their reputation among a representative sample of Americans:

Score range: 80.0 and above
Reputation: Excellent
Score range: 75.0-79.9
Reputation: Very Good
Score range: 70.0-74.9
Reputation: Good
Score range: 65.0-69.9
Reputation: Fair
Score range: 64.9 and below
Reputation: Poor

Companies with a Very Poor reputation (a score below 50) didn’t make it into the list. Here’s how the 100 most visible companies stack up in terms of brand reputation:

2021 Rank	Company	2021 Score	Overall Reputation
#1	Patagonia	82.7	Excellent
#2	Honda Motor Company	81.6	Excellent
#3	Moderna	81.3	Excellent
#4	Chick-fil-A	81.1	Excellent
#5	SpaceX	81.1	Excellent
#6	Chewy	80.9	Excellent
#7	Pfizer	80.2	Excellent
#8	Tesla Motors	80.2	Excellent
#9	Costco	80.1	Excellent
#10	Amazon.com	80.0	Excellent
#11	REI	79.9	Very Good
#12	USAA	79.2	Very Good
#13	Wegmans	79.2	Very Good
#14	Subaru	79.2	Very Good
#15	Unilever	79.2	Very Good
#16	Apple	79.1	Very Good
#17	In-n-Out Burger	78.7	Very Good
#18	Toyota Motor Corporation	78.7	Very Good
#19	UPS	78.6	Very Good
#20	PepsiCo	78.5	Very Good
#21	IKEA	78.4	Very Good
#22	Lowe’s	78.3	Very Good
#23	Publix Supermarkets	78.2	Very Good
#24	CVS (CVS Health)	78.2	Very Good
#25	3M Company	78.1	Very Good
#26	HP, Inc.	78.1	Very Good
#27	Berkshire Hathaway	78.0	Very Good
#28	Hulu	77.9	Very Good
#29	Nestle	77.7	Very Good
#30	The Kroger Company	77.5	Very Good
#31	Samsung	77.5	Very Good
#32	Paypal	77.5	Very Good
#33	FedEx Corporation	77.4	Very Good
#34	Sony	77.3	Very Good
#35	Procter & Gamble Co.	77.0	Very Good
#36	Microsoft	76.8	Very Good
#37	The Walt Disney Company	76.7	Very Good
#38	Netflix	76.4	Very Good
#39	IBM	76.3	Very Good
#40	General Electric	76.1	Very Good
#41	Target	76.0	Very Good
#42	Wayfair	75.8	Very Good
#43	Citigroup	75.7	Very Good
#44	American Express	75.6	Very Good
#45	The Home Depot	75.4	Very Good
#46	Walgreens	75.3	Very Good
#47	Kaiser Permanente	75.3	Very Good
#48	Best Buy	75.2	Very Good
#49	Adidas	75.1	Very Good
#50	Ford Motor Company	75.1	Very Good
#51	Electronic Arts, Inc.	74.7	Good
#52	State Farm Insurance	74.7	Good
#53	Hobby Lobby	74.5	Good
#54	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	74.5	Good
#55	Kohl’s	74.4	Good
#56	T-Mobile	74.3	Good
#57	Domino’s Pizza	73.7	Good
#58	The Coca-Cola Company	73.7	Good
#59	Goya	73.5	Good
#60	Google	73.3	Good
#61	Verizon Communications	73.2	Good
#62	Nike	72.8	Good
#63	Nordstrom	72.8	Good
#64	Macy’s	72.3	Good
#65	Starbucks Corporation	72.3	Good
#66	eBay	72.1	Good
#67	Wendy’s	72.1	Good
#68	General Motors	72.0	Good
#69	Royal Dutch Shell	71.6	Good
#70	Yum! Brands	71.5	Good
#71	Dollar General	71.4	Good
#72	Johnson & Johnson	71.4	Good
#73	McDonald’s	71.1	Good
#74	Dollar Tree	71.1	Good
#75	Fiat Chrysler Automobiles	70.8	Good
#76	Chipotle	70.8	Good
#77	Bank of America	70.5	Good
#78	Reddit	70.4	Good
#79	Robinhood	70.4	Good
#80	ExxonMobil	70.4	Good
#81	Delta Air Lines	70.4	Good
#82	GameStop	69.7	Fair
#83	Walmart	69.7	Fair
#84	Burger King	69.4	Fair
#85	BP	68.2	Fair
#86	AT&T	67.6	Fair
#87	United Airlines	67.4	Fair
#88	Huawei Technologies	67.1	Fair
#89	JCPenney	66.3	Fair
#90	Uber	66.2	Fair
#91	My Pillow	66.0	Fair
#92	Comcast	65.8	Fair
#93	Twitter	63.4	Poor
#94	TikTok	63.0	Poor
#95	Wells Fargo & Company	63.0	Poor
#96	Sears Holdings Corporation	61.2	Poor
#97	Wish.com	60.7	Poor
#98	Facebook	60.0	Poor
#99	Fox Corporation	59.2	Poor
#100	The Trump Organization	56.9	Poor

While the ranking itself highlights well-respected and poorly-viewed brands overall, another perspective is to look at which brands shot up in the list, and which ones plummeted.

Fastest Risers in Brand Reputation

Unwavering and bold commitments to the environment has helped Patagonia to top the charts as the #1 brand, rising 31 ranks since 2020. From funneling 1% of sales into environmental donations to ensuring ethical supply chains, Patagonia’s culture, ethics, and citizenship all align with its business model in consumers’ eyes.

With over 33 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered daily around the world, Pfizer’s contribution to the ongoing immunization progress is undeniable. As a result, its overall ranking has swelled by 54 places since 2020.

Rank in 2021	Brand	2021 Score	Change
#7	Pfizer	80.2	+54
#1	Patagonia	82.7	+31
#15	Unilever	79.2	+20
#71	Dollar General	71.4	+19
#43	Citigroup	75.7	+17
#2	Honda Motor Company	81.6	+14
#24	CVS (CVS Health)	78.2	+13
#27	Berkshire Hathaway	78	+13
#50	Ford Motor Company	75.1	+13
#56	T-Mobile	74.3	+13

Dollar General might seem like a surprising addition to this table, but in terms of sheer growth, discount stores are thriving. Across America, dollar stores are opening at a rate of three per day, faster than any Starbucks or McDonalds.

There’s a crucial reason for this: in many rural areas, millions rely on dollar stores for food and other essentials, as the nearest grocery store can be nearly an hour’s drive away.

Biggest Decliners in Brand Reputation

Despite steady revenue growth, Google is among a handful of Big Tech companies whose reputations are backsliding, dropping 36 places in the past year. The outsize power and influence these companies hold is increasingly coming under regulatory scrutiny.

Rank in 2021	Brand	2021 Score	Change
#60	Google	73.3	-36
#35	Procter & Gamble Co.	77	-27
#81	Delta Air Lines	70.4	-24
#30	The Kroger Company	77.5	-21
#38	Netflix	76.4	-21
#70	Yum! Brands	71.5	-21
#23	Publix Supermarkets	78.2	-19
#36	Microsoft	76.8	-17
#58	The Coca-Cola Company	73.7	-17
#67	Wendy’s	72.1	-17

Although Netflix pioneered the world of streaming, it is now facing stiff competition from emerging subscription services. Amazon’s latest acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM Studios) will especially bolster the content catalog available on Prime Video.

Building a Brand Reputation Doesn’t Come Easy

Near the bottom of the 100 companies leaderboard, the struggles of mainstream media and modern information dissemination are strongly reflected. Despite their diverse audiences and established histories, brand reputations of both Facebook and Fox News have eroded in recent years.

This example highlights how the nature of a brand’s reputation can evolve over time. Building a strong and reputable brand may be subjective, but its effects on consumer loyalty are powerful.

The post Ranked: The Reputation of 100 Major Brands in the U.S. appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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1.6 Billion Disposable Masks Entered Our Oceans in 2020

By 9jabook • On July 28, 2021 • In vc • 2 min read

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The Briefing

52 billion disposable face masks were produced in 2020 (this includes N95 respirators and surgical masks)
It’s estimated that 1.6 billion of these masks ended up in our oceans
This equates to roughly 5,500 tons of plastic pollution

Demand for Disposable Masks Skyrockets in 2020

Following the World Health Organization’s formal declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world quickly mandated the use of face masks in public spaces.

This led to a massive demand shock, prompting factories to begin producing disposable masks at full capacity. The majority of these masks were produced in China, and in April 2020, the country reported a staggering daily production figure of 450 million masks.

Plastic Pollution: A Lesser Known Side Effect

In Ocean Asia’s 2020 report, Masks on the Beach, researchers developed a formula to provide reasonable estimates for the number of disposable masks entering the environment.

Given an annual production figure of 52 billion disposable masks and a loss rate of 3% (the percentage of masks that escape water management systems), the team concluded that nearly 1.6 billion face masks wound up in our oceans in 2020. This amounts to approximately 5,500 tons of plastic pollution.

These masks are commonly made of polypropylene, which easily breaks up into microplastics. While the effects of microplastics on human health are not yet determined, these fragments are incredibly common in our water supply—for example, 94% of U.S. tap water is deemed to be contaminated.

Disposable Doesn’t Mean They’re Gone

Despite their single-use nature, disposable masks are expected to take more than four centuries to decompose while in the ocean. Here’s how this compares to other items we use on a day-to-day basis.

Item	Years Needed to Biodegrade
Disposable masks	450
Disposable diaper	450
Plastic bottle	450
Aluminum can	200
Styrofoam cup	50
Plastic grocery bag	20
Cigarette butt	10

The pandemic has extended well into 2021, and the number of disposable masks polluting our oceans is likely to continue growing.

With this in mind, various companies and organizations are beginning to search for a solution. One noteworthy example is Plaxtil, which is developing a method for recycling surgical masks so that the raw materials can be used for other products.

»Like this? Then you might enjoy this infographic on the flow of plastic waste.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Oceans Asia, Statista, Plastic Collectors

The post 1.6 Billion Disposable Masks Entered Our Oceans in 2020 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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Mapped: GDP per Capita Worldwide

By 9jabook • On July 27, 2021 • In vc • 4 min read

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View the full-resolution version of this infographic

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Mapped: Visualizing GDP per Capita Worldwide

View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.

GDP per capita has steadily risen globally over time, and in tandem, the standard of living worldwide has increased immensely.

This map using data from the IMF shows the GDP per capita (nominal) of nearly every country and territory in the world.

GDP per capita is one of the best measures of a country’s wealth as it provides an understanding of how each country’s citizens live on average, showing a representation of the quantity of goods and services created per person.

The Standard of Living Over Time

Looking at history, our standard of living has increased drastically. According to Our World in Data, from 1820 to 2018, the average global GDP per capita increased by almost 15x.

Literacy rates, access to vaccines, and basic education have also improved our quality of life, while things like child mortality rates and poverty have all decreased.

For example, in 1990, 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty, which was 36% of the world’s population at the time. Over the last 30 years, the number has been steadily decreasing — by 2030, an estimated 479 million people will be living in extreme poverty, which according to UN population estimates, will represent only 6% of the population.

That said, economic inequality between different regions is still prevalent. In fact, the richest country today (in terms of nominal GDP per capita), Luxembourg, is over 471x more wealthy than the poorest, Burundi.

Here’s a look at the 10 countries with the highest GDP per capita in 2021:

gdp per capita top 10 countries

However, not all citizens in Luxembourg are extremely wealthy. In fact:

29% of people spend over 40% of their income on housing costs
31% would be at risk of falling into poverty if they had to forgo 3 months of income

The cost of living is expensive in Luxembourg — but the standard of living in terms of goods and services produced is the highest in the world. Additionally, only 4% of the population reports low life satisfaction.

Emerging Economies and Developing Countries

Although we have never lived in a more prosperous period, and poverty rates have been declining overall, this year global extreme poverty rose for the first time in over two decades.

About 120 million additional people are living in poverty as a result of the pandemic, with the total expected to rise to about 150 million by the end of 2021.

Many of the poorest countries in the world are also considered Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by the UN. In these countries, more than 75% of the population live below the poverty line.

Here’s a look at the 10 countries with the lowest GDP per capita:

gdp per capita bottom 10 countries

Life in these countries offers a stark contrast compared to the top 10. Here’s a glance at the quality of life in the poorest country, Burundi:

80% of the population works in agriculture
1 in 3 Burundians are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance
Average households spend up to two-thirds of their income on food

However, many of the world’s poorest countries can also be classified as emerging markets with immense economic potential in the future.

In fact, China has seen the opportunity in emerging economies. Their confidence in these regions is best exemplified in the Belt and Road initiative which has funneled massive investments into infrastructure projects across multiple African countries.

Continually Raising the Bar

Prosperity is a very recent reality only characterizing the last couple hundred years. In pre-modern societies, the average person was living in conditions that would be considered extreme poverty by today’s standards.

Overall, the standard of living for everyone today is immensely improved compared to even recent history, and some countries will be experiencing rapid economic growth in the future.

GDP per Capita in 2021: Full Dataset

Country	GDP per Capita (Nominal, 2021, USD)
Luxembourg	$125,923
Ireland	$90,478
Switzerland	$90,358
Norway	$76,408
United States	$66,144
Denmark	$63,645
Singapore	$62,113
Iceland	$58,371
Netherlands	$58,029
Sweden	$57,660
Australia	$57,211
Qatar	$55,417
Austria	$54,820
Finland	$54,817
Germany	$51,967
Belgium	$50,051
Macao SAR	$48,207
Hong Kong SAR	$47,990
Canada	$45,871
France	$44,770
San Marino	$44,676
Israel	$43,439
United Kingdom	$42,236
New Zealand	$41,793
Japan	$40,733
Italy	$35,062
United Arab Emirates	$32,686
South Korea	$32,305
Malta	$32,099
The Bahamas	$31,532
Puerto Rico	$31,207
Spain	$31,178
Europe	$31,022
Cyprus	$29,686
Taiwan Province of China	$28,890
Slovenia	$28,734
Estonia	$26,378
Brunei Darussalam	$26,274
Czech Republic	$25,991
Portugal	$25,097
Bahrain	$23,710
Kuwait	$23,138
Lithuania	$22,752
Aruba	$22,710
Slovakia	$21,606
Saudi Arabia	$20,742
Greece	$20,521
Latvia	$19,934
Hungary	$17,645
Barbados	$17,472
Poland	$16,740
Trinidad and Tobago	$16,622
Saint Kitts and Nevis	$16,491
Croatia	$16,402
Uruguay	$16,297
Romania	$14,916
Antigua and Barbuda	$14,748
Oman	$14,675
Panama	$14,390
Chile	$14,209
Maldives	$14,194
Palau	$13,180
Seychelles	$12,648
Costa Rica	$11,805
China	$11,713
Malaysia	$11,378
Bulgaria	$11,349
Russia	$10,793
Saint Lucia	$10,636
Grenada	$10,211
Guyana	$9,913
Nauru	$9,865
Mauritius	$9,630
Kazakhstan	$9,454
Montenegro	$9,152
Argentina	$9,095
Turkmenistan	$8,874
Serbia	$8,444
Mexico	$8,403
Dominica	$8,111
Equatorial Guinea	$8,000
Gabon	$7,785
Dominican Republic	$7,740
Thailand	$7,675
Iran	$7,668
Turkey	$7,659
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	$7,401
Botswana	$7,036
North Macedonia	$6,933
Brazil	$6,728
Bosnia and Herzegovina	$6,536
Belarus	$6,513
Peru	$6,229
Jamaica	$5,643
Ecuador	$5,589
Colombia	$5,457
South Africa	$5,236
Paraguay	$5,207
Albania	$5,161
Tonga	$4,949
Suriname	$4,921
Fiji	$4,822
Iraq	$4,767
Kosovo	$4,753
Libya	$4,733
Georgia	$4,714
Moldova	$4,527
Armenia	$4,427
Namibia	$4,412
Azerbaijan	$4,404
Guatemala	$4,385
Jordan	$4,347
Tuvalu	$4,296
Indonesia	$4,287
Mongolia	$4,139
Marshall Islands	$4,092
Samoa	$4,053
El Salvador	$4,023
Micronesia	$3,995
Belize	$3,968
Sri Lanka	$3,928
Vietnam	$3,759
Eswatini	$3,697
Cabo Verde	$3,675
Bolivia	$3,618
Ukraine	$3,615
Egypt	$3,606
Philippines	$3,602
North Africa	$3,560
Algeria	$3,449
Bhutan	$3,447
Morocco	$3,409
Tunisia	$3,380
Djibouti	$3,275
West Bank and Gaza	$3,060
Vanuatu	$2,967
Lao P.D.R.	$2,614
Papua New Guinea	$2,596
Honduras	$2,593
Côte d’Ivoire	$2,571
Solomon Islands	$2,501
Ghana	$2,300
Congo, Republic of	$2,271
Nigeria	$2,209
São Tomé and Príncipe	$2,133
Angola	$2,130
Kenya	$2,122
India	$2,031
Bangladesh	$1,990
Uzbekistan	$1,836
Nicaragua	$1,828
Kiribati	$1,817
Mauritania	$1,782
Cambodia	$1,680
Cameroon	$1,657
Senegal	$1,629
Venezuela	$1,586
Myanmar	$1,441
Comoros	$1,431
Benin	$1,400
Timor-Leste	$1,273
Kyrgyz Republic	$1,270
Nepal	$1,166
Tanzania	$1,132
Guinea	$1,067
Lesotho	$1,018
Zambia	$1,006
Mali	$992
Uganda	$971
Ethiopia	$918
Tajikistan	$851
Burkina Faso	$851
Guinea-Bissau	$844
Rwanda	$820
Gambia, The	$809
Togo	$759
Sudan	$714
Chad	$710
Haiti	$698
Liberia	$646
Eritrea	$632
Yemen	$573
Niger	$567
Madagascar	$554
Central African Republic	$522
Zimbabwe	$516
Afghanistan	$506
Congo, Dem. Rep. of the	$478
Sierra Leone	$471
Mozambique	$431
Malawi	$397
South Sudan, Republic of	$323
Burundi	$267

Editor’s note: Readers have rightly pointed out that Monaco is one of the world’s richest countries in GDP per capita (nominal) terms. This is true, but the IMF dataset excludes Monaco and lists it as “No data” each year. As a result, it is excluded from the visualization(s) above.

The post Mapped: GDP per Capita Worldwide appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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Olympics 2021: Comparing Every Sports Ball

By 9jabook • On July 20, 2021 • In vc • 1 min read

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The Briefing

Table tennis has the smallest sports ball used in the Tokyo Olympics at just 4cm in diameter and 2.7g in weight.
The biggest by size is the basketball at 24.35cm in diameter, but the shot is more than 10 times heavier at 7.26kg.

Olympics 2021: Comparing Every Sports Ball

It might be strange having the Olympics in 2021 (an odd year), but 2020 was anything but normal.

After facing a 12-month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo are set to kick off from July 23 to August 8.

In addition to hosting traditional sports like running and aquatics, some sports are being introduced for the first time (karate, skateboarding) or returning after an absence (baseball).

One thing that many Olympic sports share in common? There are 17 different sports that use balls or spheres of some sort, ranging in size and weight. Here are the different balls used in the Tokyo Olympics.

Olympic Sports Balls by Size and Weight

The 2021 Olympics, which are still officially called the 2020 Olympics to keep the four-year cycle and branding consistent, are hosting 339 events across 33 different sports.

17 of those sports use balls or spheres. The official sizes and weights vary from a small diameter of 4cm for table tennis to the largest ball, a basketball with a diameter of 24.35cm.

Sport	Diameter	Weight
Table Tennis	4.00cm	2.7g
Golf	4.27cm	45.93g
Tennis	6.70cm	57.7g
Field Hockey	7.48cm	163g
Baseball	7.50cm	149g
Softball	9.55cm	177g
Shot Put	12.00cm	7,260g
Handball (Women’s)	17.51cm	350g
Handball (Men’s)	18.78cm	450g
Rhythmic Gymnastics	19.00cm	400g
Volleyball	21.01cm	270g
Water Polo (Women’s)	21.01cm	425g
Beach Volleyball	21.33cm	270g
Soccer	21.96cm	432.5g
Water Polo (Men’s)	22.28cm	425g
Basketball (Women’s)	23.24cm	538g
Basketball (Men’s)	24.35cm	608g

Even within the same categories of sports, balls have different size and weight rules based on event or gender. Water polo, handball, and basketball all have slight variations of a few centimeters in diameter and up to 100g in weight for different gender events.

But sorting the balls by weight shows that the shot is far and away the heaviest. At 7.26kg, the shot is more than 10 times heavier than a basketball. That’s because while most sporting balls are made of light material filled with air, shots are typically constructed entirely of metal.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Wired, Official Sport Rulebooks.

The post Olympics 2021: Comparing Every Sports Ball appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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Visualized: The Biggest Ponzi Schemes in Modern History

By 9jabook • On July 20, 2021 • In vc • 3 min read

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Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

The Biggest Ponzi Schemes in Modern History

Some things simply sound too good to be true, but when money is involved, our judgement can become clouded.

This is often the case with Ponzi schemes, a type of financial fraud that lures investors by promising abnormally high returns. Money brought in by new members is used to pay the scheme’s founders, as well as its earlier investors.

The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian who became infamous in the 1920s for claiming he could double his clients’ money within 90 days. Since then, numerous Ponzi schemes have been orchestrated around the globe.

To help you learn more about these sophisticated crimes, this infographic examines some of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern history.

Ponzi Schemes in the 20th Century

The 1990s saw a number of large Ponzi schemes worth upwards of $500 million.

Country	Date Ended	Name of Scheme and Founder	Value (USD)
Belgium	1991	Moneytron, Jean-Pierre Van Rossem	$860M
Romania	1994	Caritas, Ioan Stoica	$1B – $5B
Russia	1994	MMM, Sergei Mavrodi	$10B
U.S.	1997	Great Ministries International, Geral Payne	$500M

In many cases, these schemes thrived by taking advantage of the unsuspecting public who often lacked any knowledge of investing. Caritas, for example, was a Ponzi scheme based in Romania that marketed itself as a “self-help game” for the poor.

The scheme was initially very successful, tricking millions of people into making deposits by offering the chance to earn an 800% return after three months. This was not sustainable, and Caritas was eventually unable to distribute further winnings.

Caritas operated for only two years, but its “success” was undeniable. In 1993, it was estimated that a third of the country’s money was circulating through the scheme.

Ponzi Schemes in the 21st Century

The American public has fallen victim to numerous multi-billion dollar Ponzi schemes since the beginning of the 21st century.

Country	Date Ended	Name of Scheme and Founder	Value (USD)
U.S.	2003	Mutual Benefits Company, Joel Steinger	$1B
U.S.	2003	Petters Group Worldwide, Tom Petters	$4B
U.S.	2008	Madoff Investment Scandal, Bernie Madoff	$65B
U.S.	2012	Stanford Financial Group, Allen Stanford	$7B

Many of these schemes have made major headlines, but much less is said about the thousands of everyday Americans that were left in financial ruin.

For victims of the Madoff Investment Scandal, receiving any form of compensation has been a drawn-out process. In 2018, 10 years after the scheme was uncovered, a court-appointed trustee managed to recover $13 billion by liquidating Madoff’s firm and personal assets.

As NPR reported, investors may recover up to 60 to 70 percent of their initial investment only. For victims who had to delay retirement or drastically alter their lifestyles, this compensation likely provides little solace.

Do the Crime, Pay the Time

Running a Ponzi scheme is likely to land you in jail for a long time, at least in the U.S.

In 2009, for example, 71-year-old Bernie Madoff pled guilty to 11 federal felonies and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. That’s 135 years longer than the average U.S. murder conviction.

Outside of the U.S., it’s a much different story. Weaker regulation and enforcement, particularly in developing countries, means a number of schemes are ongoing today.

Sergei Mavrodi, known for running the Russian Ponzi scheme MMM, started a new organization shortly after being released from prison in 2011. Now known as MMM Global, the self-described “social financial network” has established a base in several Southeast Asian and African countries.

If you or someone you know is worried about falling victim to a Ponzi scheme, this checklist from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be a useful resource.

The post Visualized: The Biggest Ponzi Schemes in Modern History appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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