Daily dozen | Forbes: Crypto Lobbying Blitz; NJ Casino Push; Robert Kraft’s new passion

Kanye West buys conservative-friendly social media platform Parler. Forbes determined the richest people in the United States who built their fortunes without a college degree. Inflation for plane tickets is more than five times higher than the grand price.

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In the news today

• Kanye West agreed to buy right-wing social media platform Parler, which positions itself as the “free speech” alternative to Twitter. News of the transaction, the financial details of which were not disclosed, comes days after the rapper was blocked from posting on Instagram and Twitter after making anti-Semitic comments.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $1.2 billion to help eradicate wild polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the two remaining countries where the virus is endemic. The ten-figure donation to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative will also help prevent new strains of polio from emerging, coming in the months after samples were discovered in New York and London.

Top take-aways

Partners at a16Z, which has raised $7 billion for crypto investments, held a fundraiser for a congressman in New York. Soon after, he pressured an industry group which threatened to derail a portfolio company. Here’s how Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto lobby blitz is paying off.

If Manhattan builds a casino, the nearby Garden State will lose millions in tax revenue. Now, local real estate developers and racetrack founders are reviving a year old push to bring gambling to North Jersey.

Supply and labor challenges in the travel industry combined with rising fuel costs due to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Covid-19’s severe effect on the sector have caused skyrocketing flight prices that increased a whopping 42.9% in the past year – more than five times higher than the overall inflation rate of 8.2%. The price increases can be particularly troublesome during the festive season.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who we estimate is worth $10.6 billion and ranked No. 59 on the Forbes 400 this year, is turning his driving passion toward philanthropy at age 81. His latest effort is a gift of 50 million dollars to Massachusetts General Hospital to bankroll a health network that combats systemic inequalities affecting black and Hispanic communitiesfor example by researching sickle cell disease.

French dairy and food giant Danone is the latest major company to leave Russia amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. bidding adieu to $975 million in the process. In leaving the country, it joins other multinational food and beverage companies that have similarly cut ties, including Pepsi, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.

Taverns are planned $24.6 billion acquisition of rival grocer Albertsons will also result in notable windfalls for two other parties involved: private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and Albertsons’ management team, particularly CEO Vivek Sankaran.

Today’s must-read

You won’t believe how many female CEO-CFO duos run the 500 largest public US companies

A new Forbes analysis of data from Equilar shows that whatever number you come up with is probably too high.

In case you missed it

While most American billionaires earned one or more degrees, there are plenty of self-made superstars who built their fortunes with just a high school diploma, if even that. These are the richest americans who never went to collegefrom oil tycoon Harold Hamm to Diane Hendricks, the nation’s richest self-made businesswoman.

Tips you can trust

• Gone are the days when perks like ping-pong tables and free snacks would draw potential employees as an extremely competitive job market allows applicants to evaluate culture, flexibility and workplace values ​​as much as pension plans, health benefits and expense accounts. These career sites respond with new job search filters including diversity and inclusion and work-life balance to help you find a good fit.
• In the midst of a brutal stock selloff this year, now might be a good time take advantage of stocks that trade at discounted prices, legendary value investor Bill Miller said at the Forbes/SHOOK Top Advisor Summit in Las Vegas. The former chairman and chief investment officer of Legg Mason cited personal favorites like Uber and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, while remaining optimistic about cryptocurrency.

Must see video

Billionaire Bob Parsons: GoDaddy founder bets on psychedelics for trauma healing

Parsons, who became a billionaire in 2011 after selling his majority stake in GoDaddy for $900 million in cash and stock, is now worth about $3.4 billion. The entrepreneur, who lives with PTSD from his tour in Vietnam, spoke to Forbes about his entrepreneurial mindset and experience using psychedelics like magic mushrooms and ayahuasca to treat PTSD: “It had been 49 years since the war. I finally came home.”

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