tCurrently personal data gathering in online markets is done on a far larger scale and much cheaperand faster than ever before. Within this scenario, a number of highly relevant companies for whompersonal data is the key factor of production have emerged. However, up to now, the correspondingeconomic analysis has been restricted primarily to a qualitative perspective linked to privacy issues.Precisely, this paper seeks to shed light on the quantitative perspective, approximating the value ofpersonal information for those companies that base their business model on this new type of asset. Inthe absence of any systematic research or methodology on the subject, an ad hoc procedure is developedin this paper. It starts with the examination of the accounts of a number of key players in online markets.This inspection first aims to determine whether the value of personal information databases is somehowreflected in the firms’ books, and second to define performance measures able to capture this value. Afterdiscussing the strengths and weaknesses of possible approaches, the method that performs best underseveral criteria (revenue per data record) is selected. From here, an estimation of the net present valueof personal data is derived, as well as a slight digression into regional differences in the economic valueof personal information.