Big Whale Hunting

Big Whale Hunting is a data-journalism project focused on the S&P 500, built around one question: how interconnected are America’s largest public companies? Instead of covering markets or stock performance, it concentrates on people and ownership, cataloguing directors and officers along with the other boards they sit on and the investment firms they are tied to.

The core features are a searchable directory of every S&P 500 director and officer, an interactive director-network graph that visualizes shared board memberships, and rankings of top institutional shareholders per company. Supporting visuals include a market-cap comparison of all index members and a chart pitting market capitalization against employee counts, one stick figure per 10,000 workers.

It suits governance researchers, journalists, compliance and competitive-intelligence analysts, and curious investors who want to understand boardroom overlap rather than price charts. Students of corporate structure will also find the network graph a useful teaching aid.

Because the underlying data comes from SEC filings and is dated to a specific snapshot, treat it as a reference point rather than a live feed, and cross-check figures against current filings before citing them. Start with the director-network graph for the big picture, then drill into individual companies for shareholder detail.

Overall, it is a niche but well-organized reference for anyone asking who really sits at the table across corporate America.