A study illustrates the deep influences that guide the gilded ocean economy: just 100 companies generated 60 per cent of revenues from the largest ocean-based industries in 2018. The promise and potential of the ocean as an ‘economic frontier’ in the 21st century has attracted attention from governments, the private sector, philanthropies and civil society. Often, this is in pursuit of a ‘blue economy’ that is defined in different ways. This aspiration reflects, at least partially, a rapid ‘blue acceleration’ over the last two decades in economic activity linked to the oceans.