Understanding corporate networks the open data way

the crazy, complex world of corporate networks

...but much of it is invisible to us (citizens, journalists, NGOs, regulators,

governments, SMEs, etc...)

We live in a corporate world

But what is a company?

But what is a company?

It’s no longer this

But what is a company?

or this

It’s no longer this

but this

or this

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And complexity is good if you want to avoid detection

“Out of 150 large-scale corruption cases the majority used companies to hide the money trail”

“Out of 150 large-scale corruption cases the majority used companies to hide the money trail”

Because the corporate world is

fertile ground for criminal activity

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Complexity and opacity also provide incentives for bad behaviour

That’s why we started OpenCorporates

Goal: An openly licensed database with an entry for every company in the world

To demolish information silos on companies

From 3 million to over 50 million

companies in just 2 years

URI is based on the company register ID, meaning it’s open

and IP-free

URI is based on the company register ID, meaning it’s open

and IP-free

URI is based on the company register ID, meaning it’s open

and IP-free

Also importing public data – trademarks, government

spending, official registers & gazette notices...

All Openly Licensed, allowing free reuse, even commercially

... and the directors too

... and the directors too

similarly named

other resources

Now over 55 million officers

From the UK to US to India

• Thousands of user-contributed data

• Over 800 registered users of the API

Platform enables the outside world to come

up with cool insights/uses for your data

And now we’re tackling corporate structures...

And now we’re tackling corporate structures...

Enabled by a grant from the

Alfred P Sloan Foundation

...from dispersed public sources + the crowd

...from dispersed public sources + the crowd

...from dispersed public sources + the crowd

...from dispersed public sources + the crowd

...from dispersed public sources + the crowd

findi

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ew

insig

hts

...an

d er

rors

too no such

company

What a modern financial company looks like (highly simplified &

truncated views)

What a modern financial company looks like (highly simplified &

truncated views)

What a modern financial company looks like (highly simplified &

truncated views)

What a modern financial company looks like (highly simplified &

truncated views)

private

unlimited

company

Another example

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The company that wants to know your network... every friend... every interaction

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This is what we got from their SEC filings as data

Facebook, Inc

Facebook, Inc

This is what we got from their SEC filings as text

Facebook, Inc

(and turned into data)

This is what we got from their SEC filings as text

Facebook, Inc

Pinnacle Sweden AB

Vitesse LLC

Facebook Operations LLC

Facebook Ireland Limited

Edge Network Services Limited

Andale Acquisition Corp

(and turned into data)

This is what we got from their SEC filings as text

Facebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited

Edge Network Services Limited

Pinnacle Sweden AB

Vitesse LLC

Facebook Operations LLC

Andale Acquisition Corp

Then we started investigating

Facebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited

Edge Network Services Limited

Pinnacle Sweden AB

Vitesse LLC

Facebook Operations LLC

Andale Acquisition Corp

Then we started investigating

Facebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited

Edge Network Services Limited

Then we started investigating

Facebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

Then we started investigating

Then we started investigatingFacebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

Then we started investigatingFacebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

Facebook Ireland Holdings

Randomus Investments Limited

Then we started investigatingFacebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

Facebook Cayman Holdings Unlimited IV

Facebook Ireland Holdings

Randomus Investments Limited

Facebook International Holdings II Ltd

Then we started investigatingFacebook, Inc

Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

Facebook Cayman Holdings Unlimited IV

Facebook Cayman Holdings Unlimited II

Facebook Cayman Holdings Unlimited lll

Facebook Ireland Holdings

Randomus Investments Limited

Facebook International Holdings II Ltd

Facebook International Holdings I Ltd

Facebook Cayman Holdings Unlimited I

So the question is, great companies of the world:

what have you got to hide?

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