I think it's a case of the outstanding share numbers being much easier to get than how much these companies are actually worth right now. I can see an overworke

I think it's a case of the outstanding share numbers being much easier to get than how much these companies are actually worth right now. I can see an overworked journalist who out of expediency decides to include these meaningless numbers, because including ANY numbers gives the verisimilitude of hard science. Even if they've done the equivalent of adding a days temperature in F to its wind speed in km/h to its percentage chance of rainfall.