The bottom line

■■ The combined stock market values of Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Tesla, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook have increased by about 70 percent since the start of the pandemic, to more than $10 trillion. That is roughly the size of the entire U.S. stock market in 2002. Apple alone has enough cash in its coffers ($204 billion) to give $600 to every person in the United States.

The New York Times

■■ Facebook paid $23.4 million for Mark Zuckerberg’s security detail last year. Google paid out $5.4 million for security for its CEO, Sundar Pichai, while Amazon paid $1.6 million for Jeff Bezos and Apple only $470,000 for Tim Cook. Protocol.com

■■ In June, 76.6 percent of the new homes sold were either still under construction or not yet started. Completed homes represented a recordlow 10.2 percent of the supply of new homes on the market. Axios.com

■■ Since March 2020, at least 22 homes in Palm Beach County, Fla., have sold for more than $40 million, as some of America’s wealthiest citizens say they are fleeing more heavily taxed states. Billionaire buyers include software mogul Larry Ellison, real estate developer Steve Wynn, and investment-services leader Charles Schwab.

The Wall Street Journal

■■ Parents are now footing about 54 percent of their children’s higher-education bills for tuition, room, board, and other expenses, an 18 percentage point increase from 2012–13. Average annual tuition, room, board, and other expenses at a four-year private university in the past academic year was $50,770, while a four-year public college for out-of-state students would run families $38,640 a year.

Bloomberg.com