You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
2 models
Ford will eliminate most of its traditional car offerings in North America, and plans to sell only two different types of traditional cars, the Mustang and the new Focus Active. The overwhelming majority of Ford sales in the U.S. are trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles, thus undermining the need for a diverse line of smaller cars. [TechCrunch]
135 grams
(Sponsored by Mott & Bow) You’ve probably never thought about the weight per square meter of your t-shirt, but it matters. Too heavy and you won’t be very comfortable. Too light and your shirt probably won’t last very long. Ideally, you want a shirt that clocks in at about 135 grams per square meter, like these butter-soft premium t-shirts.
19 states
The U.S. E. coli outbreak is worsening. There have now been 84 cases in 19 states, with 42 of those cases resulting in hospitalization. That’s a higher than typical rate of hospitalization, and a great reason to just stop eating romaine lettuce for the time being. [The Washington Post]
35 percent
A Department of Housing and Urban Development proposal would hike the rents of people living in federally subsidized housing. Currently these residents have to pay 30 percent of their adjusted income as rent, but the new rules would hike that up to 35 percent of gross income. This will affect roughly half of the 4.7 million families who receive housing benefits. [The Washington Post]
43 percent
That’s the percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who believe in a God as described in the bible, the lowest percentage in any age bracket. Contrast that with the 67 percent of 50 to 64-year-olds who believe in that conception of God. Still, the aggregate amount of 18 to 29-year-olds who believe in some sort of god, higher power or spiritual force (83 percent) is only 13 points lower than in the 50 to 64 bracket. The faith of younger people tends to be a little bit more unclear and non-name brand than their parents’. [Pew Research Center]
44,000 locations
After potentially misunderstanding a bunch of New Yorkers’ tweets calling on a higher power to fix the damn subway, the sandwich chain Subway will close roughly 500 locations in North America this year. Subway’s footprint is enormous — there are 44,000 locations globally, which is way higher than the 14,000 McDonald’s locations worldwide. [CNN]
$20 billion
SoftBank is a major investor in Silicon Valley, and has about $20 billion in investments in ride-hailing companies. SoftBank is now planning to transfer some of those enormous investments to The Vision Fund, run by a SoftBank board member and funded by Saudi Arabia. If that kind of consolidation happens, the transfer could make The Vision Fund one of the most consequential investors in the ride-hailing space. [The Financial Times]
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