Meet The Entrepreneur Pulling In Millions From A Black Unicorn

 

Plus: This Deep-Sea Mining Company Will Sweep The Ocean Floor For Battery Materials—If It Doesn’t Go Broke First ADVERTISEMENT BECOME A MEMBER • NEWSLETTERS • MYFORBES Good morning, Those chocolate eggs and rabbits might come with a higher price tag this Easter.  The price of cocoa is skyrocketing, topping $10,000 per metric ton for the first time Tuesday. Around 70% of the world’s cocoa is grown in West Africa, where El Niño has led to lackluster crop yields.  Hershey and Cadbury maker Mondelēz have said they plan to raise prices as a result, while companies like Mars have shrunk the size of their chocolates.  Avoiding chocolate may not be enough to protect your wallet: Retail prices for sugar and sweets are predicted to increase by 5.6% in 2024. Let’s get into the headlines, Danielle Chemtob Staff Writer, Newsletters Follow me on Forbes.com BREAKING NEWS Pulmonary arterial hyptertension disproportionately impacts women of color, though its ultimate cause is still a mystery. GETTY The FDA approved a new treatment from pharmaceutical giant Merck for pulmonary arterial hypertension, and it’s considered by the FDA to be the first medicine of its kind to treat the disease. PAH causes the blood vessels in the lungs to progressively shrink, increasing both blood pressure and the risk of heart failure, and in a clinical trial, the drug reduced the risk of death or increased severity of the disease by 83%. NBC News will no longer employ ex-Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel after the network received backlash and on-air criticism from its own journalists over its decision to hire McDaniel as a paid contributor after she spent years casting doubt on the results of the 2020 presidential election. McDaniel’s deal with NBC was worth about $300,000, the New York Times reported. BUSINESS + FINANCE Vessel traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore is halted indefinitely after The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed Tuesday morning. The bridge crossed over one of the largest ports in the U.S.—and the single largest port for car shipments—but economists say the bridge collapse would only have minimal implications on vehicle inflation.  Shares of Donald Trump’s social media company skyrocketed in their stock market debut, but there’s little technical backing to suggest Trump Media is worthy of its current $8 - $10 billion valuation, which is higher than several companies listed on the S&P 500. Instead, Trump Media traders appear to be backing Trump as his legal fees and challenges mount ahead of November’s presidential election, with some experts deeming Trump Media a meme stock. WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP Trump Media’s stock market gains made Trump more than $4 billion richer, and Forbes estimates the former president now has a net worth of $6.4 billion, as of Tuesday afternoon. But it remains to be seen how much of this newfound wealth the former president can actually put to use, as shareholders are currently barred from selling any of the stock or pledging it as collateral for loans for six months.  Billionaire Andreas Bechtolsheim agreed to settle charges filed by the SEC alleging he benefited from insider trading during Cisco System’s multi-billion-dollar offer for Acacia Communications in 2019. Bechtolsheim cofounded the tech hardware firm Sun Microsystems in 1982, which was acquired by Oracle in 2010 for $7.4 billion, and he and his family have a net worth of $16.4 billion, Forbes estimates. TECH + INNOVATION Surgeons perform the world’s first genetically modified pig kidney transplant into a living human at Massachusetts General Hospital. MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL Biotech startup eGenesis developed a gene-edited kidney that was successfully transplanted into a living patient by surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital last week, and CEO Mike Curtis told Forbes that the milestone is only the beginning. His company, which has raised $291 million in venture backing to date, aims to bring its gene-editing technology for kidney, liver and heart transplants into clinical trials in the next two years, making it a disruptive player in a market that Grand View Research estimates to be around $15 billion. A Forbes investigation reveals that even though only a handful of blockchains other than Bitcoin and Ethereum have gained significant traction, there are no fewer than 50 blockchains today trading at values of more than $1 billion, of which at least 20 are functional zombies. The 20 blockchains Forbes analyzed, whose ambitions range from a universal world computer to an untraceable payments network, have a combined market value of $116 billion, but most have few users. Still, don’t expect them to shutter anytime soon: With billions sitting in their coffers, they can continue to exist for years.  SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT NFL team owners approved a major overhaul to the kickoff play, borrowing a play design modeled by the rival XFL in a bid to reduce head injuries, one of the biggest football rule changes in recent years. The rate of concussions from the kickoff is approximately twice the rate of an ordinary play from the line of scrimmage, according to the NFL. TRENDS + EXPLAINERS The majority of taxable income in America comes from wages and salaries, but in 2021, taxpayers also reported nearly $2.7 trillion in investment income. When navigating your tax return, don’t forget about income such as interest from your bank, brokerage account or savings bonds in some cases, as well as dividends and capital gains.  DAILY COVER STORY The Metals Co.'s remote-controlled collector has already scooped up a thousand tons of potato-sized nodules from the Pacific floor.  COURTESY THE METALS COMPANY This Deep-Sea Mining Company Will Sweep The Ocean Floor For Battery Materials—If It Doesn’t Go Broke First Read Article TOPLINE Gerard Barron’s The Metals Company wants to scoop up metal-rich nodules from the bottom of the ocean, worth trillions of dollars. Crucially, they contain nickel, manganese, cobalt and copper — all vital to the manufacture of batteries like those that power electric vehicles.  In 2021, TMC went public on the Nasdaq, via a SPAC, raising $570 million at a $2.9 billion valuation with the goal of commercially harvesting these rocks. Today the company still has no revenues, while shares have fallen 80%.  On Monday, the company announced its full-year 2023 results — which amounted to a total cash burn of $60 million against $20 million raised, and just $7 million left in the bank. The good news is TMC’s largest shareholders have agreed to loan the company another $45 million — enough to get through one more year of permitting and bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the company says, “discussions with potential strategic partners continue” on monetizing what they figure is the $8.1 billion value of their initial nodule collection site. The disappointing news: A couple months ago the company was hoping to commence commercial nodule collection in 2025. Given rulemaking bureaucracy, they now say it will be more like mid 2026 before they can deploy the Hidden Gem–a former deep-water drillship for the oil industry. Its initial field of harvest will be in the waters of the world’s polymetallic nodule hotspot, known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). Sponsored by island nations Nauru, Tonga and Kiribati, TMC has permits to mine 90,000 square miles of seafloor. Not everyone is on board with seafloor harvesting. Environmental scientists worry that harvesting nodules will send up plumes of sediment into the water and kill anything living on the seafloor, such as brittle stars and bizarre sea cucumber species like the one known as the gummy squirrel. Marine scientists and the International Union for Conservation of Nature have called for a deep sea mining ban. But TMC points to a half-dozen studies going back to work done by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration for Congress in 1984 finding that the impact to sea life would be minimal.

WHY IT MATTERS “So far humans have been able to mine all the metals and minerals we need by digging in the Earth (often chopping down rainforests in the process),” says Forbes senior editor Chris Helman. “But if we’re going to transition away from fossil fuels and towards more electrification, we’ll need vastly larger quantities of stuff like nickel, copper and cobalt. Miraculously, all the metals we need are just sitting like lumpy potatoes on the seafloor—it’s a bonanza worth trillions of dollars, if companies like The Metals Company can figure out how to haul it up profitably. Huge implications for our ability to enable electrification without massive environmental devastation.” MORE This Miner Might Change The Future Of The iPhone ADVERTISEMENT FACTS AND COMMENTS In a landmark class action settlement, Visa and Mastercard will reduce credit card “swipe fees” for merchants for the next five years. The settlement ends decades-long litigation alleging the credit card issuers violated antitrust laws:  Around $30 billion How much the settlement will save U.S. merchants, according to a news release from the law firm representing the plaintiffs Four basis points The amount that Mastercard and Visa will reduce the credit card processing fees by for U.S.-issued consumer credit cards at every merchant for the next three years  Over 80% The share of the nation’s credit card network that Visa and Mastercard account for

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

Saving up for an emergency fund is often the first financial growth goal for someone living paycheck-to-paycheck, but from there, a “cash flow cushion” can also help. It’s essentially a buffer of money in your checking account equivalent to one month of expenses. It can reduce financial stress, ensuring that you are breaking the mental cycle of waiting for your next paycheck to pay bills due in the same month. The financial security far outweighs any downsides like missed investment opportunities.

VIDEO Meet The Entrepreneur Pulling In Millions From A Black Unicorn Watch Video

GAMES QUIZ Filming for the much-delayed next season of a popular HBO show was postponed indefinitely. Which TV show is it? A. “Euphoria” B. “White Lotus” C. “House of the Dragon” D. “The Last of Us” Check Your Answer FRASE BY FORBES Unscramble today’s anagram to solve this hidden phrase! Stumped? Scroll to the bottom of today’s newsletter for a hint. Play Now

BEYOND THE NEWSROOM

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