Wednesday, May 20 12:00 AM ET

Study Shows Cats Control 42% of the Internet

By Brian Briggs

A recent study showed that cats control an alarming 42% of the Internet. The largest portion of this being controlled by Keyboard Cat,Maru the cat, and LOLCats.

Investigators traced many of the popular cat Web sites through a series of holding companies and blind trusts. All led back to Moneypuss Industries, a company started by Mr. Moneypuss, a Maine Coon cat, who started the company after being left a fortune of over $25 million dollars by his longtime owner Sally Dorsmith in 1997.

"All popular cat videos and images can be traced back to Moneypuss Industries," said South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster. "We're filing several suits to stop this unhealthy monopoly of cat videos and pictures on the Internet."

At the current rate of growth every video on YouTube will have a cat by April 2011, and that means big bucks for Mr. Moneypuss. In a deal struck with YouTube parent Google, Moneypuss Industries receives a percentage of revenue from all cat videos.

McMaster's investigations shows that Moneypuss Industries has funneled lots of cash to Universities to fund research on the neuroscience of viral memes. "They've used that research to develop the keyboard cat andLOLcats memes. They then turn these memes into brands, and start milking the cash cow," said McMasters.

Dogs are the big losers. The dog analog to Moneypuss Idustries, Barker Holdings, only controls 3% of Internet traffic.

"Cats are far ahead of dogs on the Internet. Due to their early investments in the Internet, and also because cat people tend to stay at home and surf the Internet all day," saidMcMasters.

A representative for Moneypuss Industries said the company has several other memes ready to flood the market including Doughnut Cat and Crazy Japanese Tango Cat. Moneypuss Industries isn't limiting itself to the Internet, the company's Caturday Studios has two cat-based shows on the fall schedule of NBC and one on ABC.

Mr. Moneypuss ranked 35th on Forbes list of richest living entities in the world.