Daily dozen | Best World Cup Final Ever; purchase of oil barrels for USD 3 million; Trump’s NFT sale of $4.4 million

Elon Musk asks users if he should step down as CEO as Twitter plunges into further controversy. Billionaire Alibaba CEO Joe Tsai will sell off an 8% stake in the Chinese online store. In addition, we fall into the civil war at Dutchie, the cannabis industry’s most valuable software company.

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On the news

• FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is set to withdraw his legal challenge to an attempt by US officials hand him over from the Bahamas, according to multiple reports, a move that will open the door for him face trial in US federal court where he faces multiple criminal charges, including wire fraud, campaign finance law violations and securities fraud.
• Lionel Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title in a thrilling match against France that ended in penalties after a 3-3 draw, after a hat-trick of goals by France’s Kylian Mbappé was not enough to thwart the Argentine legend’s pursuit of the trophy.

Top take-aways

The Ministry of Energy is buy 3 million barrels of oil to replenish America’s strategic reserve and strengthen energy security as oil prices – and gas prices – have fallen since the summer. President Joe Biden’s administration initially tapped into the reserve to counter an energy crisis triggered in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A majority of Twitter users asked by Elon Musk voted for of his resignation as CEO of the social media company after both the billionaire and Twitter clashed big setback about recent rule changes and prohibitions against prominent journalists from the platform. More: Tesla shares fell to a 25-month low last Friday amid Musk’s social media but rose in premarket trading Monday after his Twitter poll.

All 44,000 NFTs in Donald Trump’s line of digital trading cards sold out in one day, gave the former president nearly $4.4 million despite the ongoing decline in non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrency and a good deal of derision from some of his allies.

Ross and Zach Lipson were recently ousted from Dutchie, the cannabis industry’s most valuable $25 billion software company, which they co-founded in 2017. Now they are suing the board of the Oregon-based point-of-sale and e-commerce company and are looking to be reinstated. Dutchie once touted a mind-boggling $3.75 billion valuationbut it crashed to $1.7 billion last spring.

Billionaire Alibaba CEO Joe Tsai plans to sell an 8% stake in the Chinese online store he co-founded, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Morgan Stanley will complete the sale of 3 million of its Alibaba shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange, leaving Tsai with about $263 million before taxes, based on the company’s share price at noon last Friday.

Skiff, a private and end-to-end encrypted email provider founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg, continues its goal to become a more private and secure replacement for Google Suite by adding end-to-end encrypted Calendar and Drive products to the offerings. “Google, Amazon and Facebook have in a sense made the private human experience the raw material of the digital economy,” says Ginsberg.

Today’s must read

2022 Forbes Holiday Cocktail Guide

Simple recipes for 14 festive drinks from award-winning bartenders and spirits experts around the world – and one potent beverage from Bryan Cranston.

ICYMI

Forbes launched our America’s Best Mid-Sized Companies 2023 list, which came at a time when many mid-cap stocks have minimized the damage sustained in the stock market’s worst year since 2008. To identify the top 100, we used data from FactSet to screen upward on 1,000 companies with a market value between 2 and 10 billion dollars. The ranking is based on earnings growth, sales growth, return on equity and total stock return for the last 12 months available and over the last five years.

Tips you can trust

• When people examine you professionally, their first impressions are usually formed online, with LinkedIn as a likely resource. Here are five features you can include in your profile to stand out. Pro tip: give your ‘about’ section some extra love and consider adding a profile video that shows you delivering your lift.
• It’s no secret that income inequality runs deep in the US A new study shows that some of the highest rates are found in America’s notable college towns such as Storrs, Connecticut (home of the University of Connecticut) and Athens, Ohio (the stomping grounds of Ohio University). Here’s why the gap between city dresses is important.

Must see video

This college dropout raised millions to make access to credit fairer

Forbes 30 Under 30 Reverend Michael Broughton’s startup Altro issues free debit cards to customers with little or bad credit so they can pay for low-cost subscription services like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify to boost their credit scores. Altro aims to help people who want to leave abusive households, get off public assistance programs and others with minimal exposure to the credit system. Altro has raised $22 million from investors dedicated to creating generational wealth for black and brown communities.

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