A new Hacker News project visualizes S&P 500 companies as bubbles sized by market capitalization. Each bubble contains stick figures representing employees, with density showing workers per dollar of market cap. Companies are grouped by sector, revealing which industries have the most employees relative to their value. Only firms with at least one employee and a market cap of at least $1 million are displayed, alongside a few large companies with fewer staff, like Palantir and Welltower. Employee data comes from latest annual reports and may lag by up to a year. Users can click for details or zoom in on smaller bubbles.
The visualization highlights stark contrasts across sectors. Tech giants like Nvidia and Apple appear as massive bubbles with relatively few figures, indicating high market value per worker. In contrast, traditional sectors may show denser figures, reflecting different capital-labor dynamics. The tool offers a unique lens on the relationship between corporate size, workforce, and market perception, inviting viewers to reconsider what company scale truly represents.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing