40 Under 40 Nominations Now Open Black Business Journal is seeking nominations for our inaugural annual Forty under 40 awards in 4 major metro cities/regions – Atlanta, Dallas/ Fort Worth, Chicago  and San Francisco. Each of these metropolitan cities has been on the forefront of tech and innovation led by young professionals. The 40 under 40 awards are given annually to 40 extraordinary local business leaders under the age of 40 for their career achievements and community service. Winners are chosen by a panel of community leaders and peers who weigh equally business successes and civic/p ..read more

Here’s what to expect next with wide-scale student loan forgiveness. Here’s what you need to know — and what it means for your student loans. Student Loans President Joe Biden is days away from announcing his decision on student loan forgiveness. Biden, who already has canceled $32 billion of student loans, is considering wide-scale student loan cancellation for more than 40 million student loan borrowers. The president has committed to announce his decision on broad student loan forgiveness by August 31, 2022, the same date the student loan payment pause ends. Will Biden cancel ..read more

Black Publicly Traded Companies Report Q2 Earnings, Several Set To Be Acquired In Multi-Billion Dollar Deals Key Insights: Two Black-led publicly traded companies are set to be acquired: Ping Identity Holding for $2.8 billion, and Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion. Carver Bancorp has been affected by an increase in interest rates to bring down inflation which has reached a 40-year high. Urban One’s operating income has decreased this quarter, noting that advertisers have reduced their spending on radio advertising. Nine companies that are publicly traded and Black-owned or Black-led ..read more

First time ever! There was some serious Black Girl Magic on display at the 2022 United States Gymnastics Championships. According to ESPN, Konnor McClain delivered a strong two-day performance to win all-around gold at the national championships. She was joined on the podium by silver medalist Shilese Jones and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles. Yes, the top three women’s gymnasts in the country are all Black. It was a very tight competition that saw first place and third place separated by only eight-tenths of a point. McClain was expected to be a part of the 2020 Olympic team, but a r ..read more

Boulevard Collective in Dallas Helps SMU Athletes Capitalize on NIL Deals Boulevard Collective, a NIL collective with alumni and donors but not associated directly with SMU, launched over the weekend. The group, operated by longtime compliance expert Chris Schoemann, expects to pay football and men’s basketball players $3,000 per month and $36,000 per year — according to three school representatives with knowledge of the deal — amounting to a total commitment of roughly $3.5 million per year. Dallas businessmen and SMU alumni Chris Kleinert and Kyle Miller were credited with leading the effort ..read more

Elon Musk has sold nearly $7 billion worth of shares in Austin-based Tesla as the billionaire gets his finances in order ahead of his court battle with Twitter. Musk sold about 8 million shares in the electric automaker, according to a series of regulatory filings. “In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” Musk tweeted late Tuesday. Musk is by far the largest individual shareholder in both Tesla and Twitter, owning about 17% of the carmaker’s s ..read more

Sacred Light Amadeus Thomas, the son of the Miami Vice star Philip Michael Thomas, 73, almost broke the internet when he posted a throwback picture of himself as an infant with his father on Instagram. The picture has overlay text that reads, “He’s gunna be a heartbreaker when he’s older,” then shifts to a video of Sacred Light sauntering toward the camera bare-chested with the word “facts” in the middle of the recorded footage. Many of his followers chimed in about how handsome he is and how they continue to pine for his father. One fan exclaimed, “He’s fine like his daddy ..read more

KEY POINTS Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, the two largest low-cost carriers in the U.S., have agreed to merge, creating what would become the fifth-largest airline in the country. The company boards approved the deal over the weekend, prior to the CEOs of both airlines announcing the agreement in New York City. The deal, valued at $6.6 billion, is structured with Frontier Airlines controlling 51.5% of the merged airline and Spirit holding the remaining 48.5%. Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines, the two largest discount carriers in the U.S., have agreed to merge in ..read more

Tyson Clark served as the sole Black general partner with Alphabet’s venture arm, GV which helped him gain recognition in the tech capital of the world, Silicon Valley. In an arena that has long been criticized for being dominated by White males, Clark stood out as one of the few venture capitalists of color, Bloomberg reported. On Thursday, GV CEO David Krane sent out a statement confirming Clark’s passing and his lasting impact at the venture capitalist firm. “With great sadness, we share that Tyson Clark, our friend and GV general partner, passed away yesterday due to sudden ..read more

Roberts to help bring economic equity, new wave of innovation to Venture Capital “Economic equity is the greatest equalizer,” says Anita C. Roberts, Silicon Hills Capital founder. It’s on that philosophy that Roberts founded Silicon Hills Capital/Narrow the Gap Fund. A $25 million venture fund, which empowers women and African Americans, Indigenous and people of color through coaching, community and capital. Her vision is that first-check investing in women and BIPOC founders building scaleable, growth aggressive companies will lead to economic equity and support a new wave of innovation in th ..read more