Just days before leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a historic Super Bowl win against the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans, running back Saquon Barkley announced he had joined Ramp as an investor. The New York-based financial operations platform is designed to save companies time and money and is Barkley’s largest private technology investment. “I’ve always believed a winning mindset applies to every part of life,” Barkley said in a press release. “If you want to dominate, you don’t switch off when the clock hits zero, and I demand that
We know that Black businesses are underrepresented in the business world; however, the number of Black-owned businesses in the US has spiked, according to a study by LendingTree. The study also found that Black-owned businesses are more likely to be led by women. While women run one-fifth (22.3%) of all US businesses, they lead two-fifths (39.1%) of Black-owned businesses—nearly twice the national average. Additionally, it found that Atlanta is the hub for Black-owned businesses for the third year running. The percentage of Black businesses is growing in the US. The
Rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, sold swastika shirts on a site hosted by Shopify Inc. during the Super Bowl, according to Bloomberg. During the NFL championship, West ran a commercial on Sunday night instructing viewers to “go to yeezy.com.” Days before this, the rapper had praised Hitler and posted antisemitic content on his now-deactivated X account. Hate speech on Shopify On Monday, West’s website featured one item for sale: a white shirt with a black Nazi swastika in its center, listed under the product name HH-01. The site’s source
DEI is the buzzword in America as more companies continue to scale back on their DEI policies. Big retailers and companies started announcing their removal of DEI last year. However, Trump’s revoking a six-decade-old executive order that prohibited workplace discrimination by federal contractors has further impacted companies’ stances on DEI. But how much impact have these initiatives had on diversity in the workplace? According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, not that much. The Wall Street Journal examined 13 million workers at S&P 500 companies and found that DEI efforts haven’t significantly
Viriginia-based entrepreneur DeShuna Spencer launched a website to track corporate responsibility for DEI initiatives. DEI Watch aims to help consumers decide which brands to support (or not). A former journalist, Spencer, created the site to promote transparency and empower buying decisions. Though she is not promoting boycotts, she says, “But if you want to, we wanted to create a platform that’s as accurate as possible,” Spencer told Axios. Spencer is also the founder of kweliTV (sometimes referred to as Black Netflix), a streaming service with over 800 international films, documentaries, and kids’
A key Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee has resigned from his role after he was connected to a deleted social media account supporting racism and eugenics, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Marko Elez, 25, had access to the Treasury Department’s central payments system. Elon Musk says he will rehire Marko Elez, after the software engineer gained the backing of Vice President Vance and President Trump. DOGE employee’s racist posts The 25-year-old engineer, Marko Elez, was a previous staff worker for two of Elon Musk’s companies. As
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has removed all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-related language from its websites. The changes extend beyond departmental websites, impacting faculty members and students using the university’s website builder for personal or lab projects. Georgia Tech dismantling DEI programs in 2023 Georgia Tech started dismantling its DEI programs in 2023, and now websites affiliated with the university have been changed to align with these adjustments. “In 2023, Georgia Tech made the decision to begin discontinuing DEI programs, which included eliminating positions and realigning funding,” Blair Meeks,
Target’s shareholders are suing the company as they believe Target hid the risks of its DEI initiatives, as stated by USA Today. Why are shareholders suing Target? In a proposed class action, Target’s shareholders claim that they felt that the company was unaware of the consequences that would surface due to DEI efforts. Additionally, the shareholders claim they were swindled into paying higher fees for its stocks and unknowingly supported its “misuse of investor funds to serve political and social goals.” In addition, before Target announced it was rolling back
The plans for Elon Musk’s Starlink to expand into South Africa have stopped as the company pulled back from regulatory hearings conducted by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), according to Techpoint. On Wednesday evening, SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company owned by Elon Musk, told the telecom regulator that it would not engage in the oral hearings. This news came a few hours after SpaceX representatives failed to attend their upcoming presentation that morning. Why did ICASA launch these hearings? ICASA created these hearings to accumulate industry input on
TikTok has announced 2025 SOAR Together, a Black-owned business accelerator program in collaboration with Black Girl Ventures. The program aims to help Black businesses grow on TikTok Shop. What is the 2025 SOAR Together program? The 2025 Soar Together program is a six-week program in which 20 businesses will be chosen to receive educational courses, business coaching, and mentorship from guest speakers. After the program has finished, those businesses will attend a special in-person graduation ceremony. TikTok’s partnership with Black Girl Ventures builds on its $1 million investment in the
