Soy boat afloat

Trade wars keep soybean ship adrift in the Pacific for more than a month

In other maritime-bean news, a shipment of American soybeans worth more than $20m has been drifting aimlessly in the Pacific Ocean for an entire month without docking.

The reason: They’re caught in the ol’ trade-war Bermuda Triangle as US and China duke it out in the ultimate tariff showdown.

Soya think you can sail?

Owned by JP Morgan Asset Management, the Peak Pegasus is a 750-ft bulk carrier weighing 86m lbs that was scheduled to unload 70k tons of American soybeans in China on July 6, shortly after Donald Trump implemented a first round of tariffs on $34B worth of Chinese goods.

The PP rushed to the docks in hopes of passing customs before Beijing fired back, but the ship missed the deadline by 30 minutes... and has been sailing around in soybean purgatory ever since.

Its circular voyage is now costing the Amsterdam-based company that owns the cargo almost $13k a day.

Full speed ahead

As of Wednesday, Trump had unsheathed a second round of tariffs on $16B worth of Chinese goods -- and you better believe Beijing responded.

In other words, as things continue to escalate, ol’ Peg may be treading water for a while.

The Guardian reports that the extra costs of staying at sea so far will result in a loss of more than $400k.

Why don’t they just starbird the jib and turn around or whatever?

That question made zero sense, but commodities experts believe their ‘just keep swimming’ philosophy still makes financial sense for at least a few months compared to biting the bullet and offloading the beans in China.

With the 25% tariff, dropping anchor in China would add an estimated $6m to the cost of importation.

Tribune wants $1B from Sinclair for gambling away their FCC-favored $3.9B merger

Last year, broadcaster Sinclair won conditional approval from the FCC to acquire Tribune Media Co. and create a 233-station broadcast behemoth.

But then, Sinclair refused to sell off its stations to facilitate the deal, prompting Tribune to cancel the merger and demand $1B in damages and shareholder premiums for tanking the deal.

After making friends with the FCC, Sinclair got greedy

Back in 2017, Tribune was a media darling courted by Sinclair, Nexstar, and other big bad broadcasters. In the end, Sinclair (the largest company in the broadcasting industry) won Tribune over with $3.9B offer.

Then, despite antitrust criticism, the FCC gave them conditions to approve the deal, positioning Sinclair to broadcast to 72% of homes as long as it sold off a few channels.

But, after the FCC’s conditional approval (which required the FCC to change broadcast ownership law to allow the deal), Sinclair pushed its luck by refusing to divest the stations as recommended by regulators.

The FCC threw Sinclair a bone, not a whole steak

When Sinclair refused to play by the FCC’s rules, Chairman Ajit Pai sent the deal to a administrative law judge, essentially closing the door on their hopes of approval.

Furious that Sinclair gambled away an almost-done deal, Tribune chose to call the deal off rather than appeal -- and sue its former merge-mate for $1B in damages and lost premiums.

Now that the deal is dead, Sinclair will likely pursue other local broadcasters -- although it will be more difficult to do so while it combats Tribune’s lawsuit. Meanwhile, Tribune’s back on the market.

Neuromarketing startup Spark Neuro raised $13.5m to help advertisers read minds

Spark Neuro, a startup that uses an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset to monitor consumers’ emotional responses to ads and movies, raised a $13.5m Series A to build out its neuroanalytics platform for advertisers.

Spark knows what you really think about that ad

Spark (an acronym for ‘Scientific Persuasive Artistic Research-Driven Knowledge’) monitors brain waves, eye movements, facial expressions, and skin reactions of viewers as they watch ads, trailers, or movies.

Using the 6k data points gathered per second, the system measures attention and emotion levels on a 1-10 scale. Then, advertisers/producers can use that data to understand how successful their content was.

For advertisers, mind reading is big business

By 2021, brands are expected to shell out $757B on advertising. And, if brands are spending that much on ads, they damn well better know if they’re working.

Spark offers a more accurate analysis of an ad’s performance than surveys or focus groups, and big brands are lining up to to know how their audiences perceives their ads.

Investors Peter Thiel, Will Smith, and ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner are eager to see how the tech works for the 2-year-old company’s clients -- which already include Anheuser-Busch, GM, Walmart, Fedex, Clorox, P&G, and other Fortune 100 giants.

Razor sales have fallen 5.1% this past year as beards become cool again

CNN Money reports that, apparently, the beard era isn’t as ‘2015’ as we all thought -- and it could mean some itchy times ahead for the razor industry.

According to Gillette, studies show that the average number of times men shave per week has fallen from 3.7 to 3.2 over the last decade, resulting in a 5.1% year-over-year sales drop by June 2018.

The days of razor burn are over

Consumer research shows that the once professionally taboo look is now more accepted around the office, unleashing a pandora’s box of bushy-bearded businessmen across boardrooms everywhere.

Most popular in men under 45, beards are no longer “considered lazy or disrespectful,” the vice president of Gillette North America told CNN.

Now, razor makers are scrambling to adjust

Gillette reportedly staged an “intervention” last year, shaving prices by an average 12% and pushing facial-hair-maintenance tools like a beard trimmer (not shaver, they’re different).

This has helped Gillette trim their sales declines as they fight off more affordable disruptors like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, who in February raised $112m to grow beyond the shaving industry.

SoFi announces first-of-its-kind solution to help Millennials survive retirement

“Retirement and Millennial” go together like “oil and water.”

There’s no stopping time, so you better have a plan. Lucky for you, SoFi wants to help you with that plan.

Introducing SoFi Insights: a new powerful app that puts your finances in the context of your life and priorities. Basically, it’s the helicopter parent your wallet needs.

Understand the black box that is your finances

SoFi Insights will allow you to track your spending, savings, and investments from one place. You’ll get a 10,000 ft. view of your finances -- all from one, central dashboard.

Then, SoFi will help you build financial plans that meet your lifestyle and goals.

So whether you plan on buying a house, hitting the road for a taste of Millennial wanderlust, or -- dare we say -- retire early, SoFi Insights gives you the ‘insight’ you need to be successful.

Sign up for early access today, and finally have a plan for what comes next.

FINE-ISH PRINT: Advisory services offered through SoFi Wealth, LLC. ©2018 Social Finance, Inc. All rights reserved. SoFi. One Letterman Drive Building A, Suite 4700, San Francisco, CA 94129

1. There two things that everybody hates: Change and the way things are.
2. The pizza-wheel is actually an infinity knife.
3. Snails always get a bad rap for being slow but think about it, if you carried your house on your back you'd be slow too.
4. Glass buildings are just elaborate sand castles.
5. A paper clip is just a stapler for somebody with commitment issues.
6. via Reddit