By The Numbers

Ba da ba ba ba…I’m just ok with it

Tony Wagner Apr 2, 2015
1 state

As gay marriage remains legal in some states and not others, same-sex couples can run into some major confusion when filing taxes. Most states that ran into trouble last year have since issued guidelines on how to navigate the legalities. Except one. Alabama has removed guidance from its website, causing major headaches not just for couples, but for accountants like Randall Hancock of Birmingham. He says in one instance, his fee doubled as a result of all of the extra work needed to help a couple properly file their taxes.

$1.5 billion

That’s what how much eBay spent to acquire PayPal back in 2002. Thirteen years later, a fairly small group of former executives known as “The PayPal Mafia” have founded or backed companies collectively worth many, many times that. Uber, YouTube, Linkedin, Airbnb, YouTube, Palantir, SpaceX, Pinterest… the list of billion-dollar tech companies with PayPal’s fingerprints is eye-popping. The New York Times spoke with a couple members of the PayPal Mafia about the way success compounds in Silicon Valley.

$10.2 billion

That’s how much the college book store industry takes in a year. And the biggest money maker? When college acceptance letters go out, and students rush to purchase their school’s swag.

1,766,522

That’s how many people follow @itsWillyFerrell as of Wednesday evening. It’s one of many Twitter “parody accounts” that isn’t really a parody so much as it is a lame joke account attracting followers with a celebrity’s name. There are dozens out there, and the high follower counts can bring in big money from advertisers. Flavorwire spoke with several of the real people behind these Twitter oddities.

$10 an hour

That’s how much McDonald’s will raise its average pay for about 90,000 of its workers. But as Reuters reports, workers at franchises (which makes up a large portion of McDonald’s workers) will not see the benefits as wages are determined by franchise owners.

7,000

The number of CrossFit locations nationwide. The brand trades on a gritty, high-intensity workout that offers the opposite of a health club experience, but the Wall Street Journal reports an increasing number of those gym chains are looking to co-opt CrossFit’s image and cash in on its massive popularity.

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