Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

The numbers for November 12, 2014

Tony Wagner Nov 12, 2014

Before leaving to continue his tour of Asia, President Barack Obama signed a climate change agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The announcement Wednesday was part of a nine-month planning process. The U.S. will double its current rate of carbon cuts with a target of reducing them 26 to 28 percent by 2025, while China pledged to peak its emissions growth by 2030. The plan is already getting pushback from the new Republican Senate majority, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Here are some stories we’re reading and other numbers we’re watching Wednesday:

$9.9 billion

That’s how much merchandise China e-commerce company Alibaba sold during its 11/11 shopping event Tuesday, shattering last year’s 11/11 and all online sales around Thanksgiving last year, AdAge reported. Nearly half of those sales came from mobile, and Chinese brands dominated.

50 million

That’s Spotify’s active user base, and 12.5 million of them pay for the subscription service. Spotify has seen powerful growth, but the start-up could very well be threatened by YouTube, which is launching its own service with an invite-only beta this week. It’s called YouTube Music Key, and yes, it has Taylor Swift.

732,732

The number of followers Alex Lee, a.k.a #AlexFromTarget, had on Twitter as of Wednesday morning. When a photo of Lee at work went viral earlier this month, he was bombarded with requests for photos, endorsements and television appearances as well as threats and harassment. A New York Times story published Wednesday tracked the explosion of fame from Lee’s perspective.

39 grams

That’s how much sugar is in Starbucks’ first new holiday beverage in five years, the Chestnut Praline Latte, which debuts Wednesday. That’s actually on the low side  the eggnog latte, peppermint mocha and pumpkin spice latte all hover around 50 grams. ABC News has a taste test.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.