The Economics Thread

Since this subject is coming up a lot lately, and tends to derail other threads, let's put it all in one thread for fun and....profit? :heh:

Here's an interesting one to start with, courtesy of the Huffington Post:

These 10 companies control enormous number of consumer brands

I urge everyone to follow these links, also in the article:

Media consolidation.
Bank merging history.

I'm sure there are other charts out there to show other industries, and by no means are any of these charts comprehensive. Feel free to add, comment, etc.