It’s not that the sharing economy itself is a new idea. Monasteries loaned books to the public in the Middle Ages, farmers have shared tools and labor for centuries, and the first known car rental service popped up in 1904. What is new is how quickly an extremely varied set of companies built around sharing, renting, collaborating, and accessing items on-demand are growing, thanks in large part to the proliferation of smartphones. There are 44 privately held sharing-oriented businesses that qualify as unicorns—their valuations are a billion dollars or more. Combined, they represent 35 percent of all unicorns, with a total valuation of $219 billion. Credit Suisse believes that their total...
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