The Forbes 2015’s Billionaires (2015). Forbes ranks more than 1,800 billionaires and these are their company, and affilations with Government Bodies etc – This list was then adapted by LittleSis http://littlesis.org/lists/846-the-world-s-billionaires-2015/members . I have then used it to construct a network which I’ve then visualised using Gephi.

Clicking on the image opens an interactive and searchable version.

The Forbes Rich List and their Connections

It follows the same principle as those laid out here…

Forbes magazine has been publishing the list of The World’s Most Powerful People since 2009. The number of people in the list is proportional to the global population with the ratio being one slot for every 100 million people on Earth. When the list started in 2009, there were 67 people on the list and the latest list from year 2014 had 72 people. According for Forbes, the list is calculated based on the person’s influence over lots of other people (e.g. Pope Francis, Wal-Mart CEO, Doug McMillon), financial resources controlled by the people (e.g. GDP, market capitalization, profits, assets, revenues and net worth), power in multiple spheres (e.g. Bill Gates), active use of power by the people (e.g. Vladimir Putin). While this list gives a snapshot of global ranking, it does not reveal information about past and present network connections and inter-linkages between people and organisations, the spread of power across the network, information about key entities who act as network intermediaries for power and which cluster of entities are most prominent in this global power structure. This is where we complement the Forbes data with LittleSis, which is a database of who-knows-who at the heights of business and government. LittleSis has information of the global rich and powerful such as past and present organizational affiliations (employment, directorships, memberships, alumni networks), donations (political contributions, grants), social connections (family ties, mentorships, friendships), professional connections (partnerships, supervisory relationships), services/contracts (legal representation, government contracts, lobbying services) etc.  http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/the-alternative-list-of-global-power-elite

For further information regarding this interactive and searchable visualisation please contact s.mcdermott@lcc.arts.ac.uk or @soci