The bottom line

The world’s 500 richest people ended the year with a combined net worth of $4.7 trillion, a huge sum but still a decline of $511 billion from 2017. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ended the year as the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $123 billion. That’s down from his September peak, $168 billion.

Bloomberg.com

In a survey, Facebook was named by 39.6 percent of Americans as the Big Tech company they trusted least with their personal information. That’s five times the 8 percent who named Twitter and 7.7 percent who distrusted Amazon most.

Recode.net

As Europe and the U.S. have reduced their coal use, China has taken up any excess— and then some. In 1997, China produced 867 terawatt hours of energy from coal; by 2017, that went up fivefold, to

4,361. American coal use, by contrast, dropped from 1,998 terawatt hours to 1,314.

The Wall Street Journal

More than 177,000 people enroll in for-profit beauty schools in the U.S. annually, paying an average charge of $17,000 for tuition and fees. Degrees from the schools are required for state licenses, but often lead to jobs paying as little as $9 or $10 an hour.

The New York Times

Sales of plugin electric vehicles in the U.S. rose 57 percent in 2018, based on data through November. So far, 313,000 had left dealers’ lots. Tesla’s Model 3 was the best-seller, with 114,000 sold, followed by the Toyota Prius Prime, at 25,000.

Recode.net

The average size of a new rental apartment in the U.S. shrank more than 5 percent over the past decade, going from 993 to 941 square feet, according to a study from RentCafé.

The New York Times