![Warren Buffet’s Exploitative Mobile Home Investment]()
By CultureBanx Team
Warren Buffet’s Clayton Homes has 49% of the manufactured home market
In 2015, 72% of black borrowers got their loans from Clayton’s mortgage companies
CBx Vibe: “Buy Back the Block” Rick Ross Feat. 2 Chainz
Warren Buffett’s company Clayton Homes, the biggest mobile home manufacturer in the U.S. has continued to profit from high interest rate loans. The Oracle of Omaha has sold low-income Americans the dream of ownership for nearly 20 years, and his investment company Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB +1.88%) makes money on the loans since they own the company that Clayton urges its buyers to go through. Many of the people buying these homes are minorities and have helped to fuel Clayton’s $13.7 billion mortgage portfolio.
Why This Matters: Clayton operates the two biggest mobile home lenders, 21st Mortgage Corporation along with Vanderbilt Mortgage. According to The Seattle Times Clayton finances more mobile home loans than any other lender by a factor of more than seven. In 2015, 72% of black borrowers got their loans from Clayton’s Vanderbilt Mortgage and 21st Mortgage, according to FFEI federal data.
Read MoreBy Justin Moore
CBx Vibe: “Taste” Tyga Feat. Offset
Cannabidiol (CBD) is popping up in products throughout the U.S. with claims it can ease everything from epilepsy to joint pain without the high of its cannabis cousin. Largely unregulated in the U.S., established businesses and entrepreneurs alike are touting the benefits of CBD in oils, creams, sodas and even in one of America’s most popular Easter snacks, jelly beans.
Why This Matters: CBD is big business as experts have predicted its market could reach $22 billion by 2022, surpassing the market for cannabis, due to its lack of regulation. This could provide more opportunities for Black entrepreneurs that typically have tougher times accessing the capital necessary to enter the traditional cannabis market.
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![Disney’s Family Streaming Bet To Dethrone Netflix]()
By CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Tune In” Massari
The mouse house wants more of your attention and coins with the launch of its Disney+ streaming service. Disney (DIS +11.54%) will need to use everything in their arsenal to dethrone streaming leader Netflix (NFLX -4.49%), which already has a strong focus on black content. Will family friendly content be enough to gain a strong foothold with African Americans who stream videos more frequently on all devices than the total U.S. population?
Why This Matters: To stream about 7,500 episodes and 500 movies on Disney’s newly minted platform it will set you back $6.99 per month. Even though this service will cost less than the lowest priced package for Netflix which is $9, it will be important for the company to create authentic original shows. A report from Horowitz Research found black audiences are also content trendsetters, with 58% reporting they want to be the first to know about new content and are more likely to watch shows that reflects their experiences.
Read MoreBy Cheryl McGinnis
CBx Vibe: “Woke” Yoshi Flower
Get ready for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to close its doors this summer and with good reason! Alas, it will reopen in the fall with a brand new mindset, inclusiveness. They finally got the memo, woke, whatever you want to call it and all art lovers will benefit. The Ivory Tower of art museums is collapsing under its own weight and rebuilding to reflect a truer American story.
Why This Matters: With Gen Z on the heels of millennials, museums are forced to change the way they do business, otherwise they will not be in business. In short, the collections are a big bore, been-there-done-that kind of thing. Don’t want to go there, even if it’s free kind of bore. When the MoMA reopens in the fall, look for a reconfigured space, inclusivity, along with more African American artists and increased Native American Art. The museum’s first solo-exhibit will be by prominent artist Betye Saar.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Soco” Starboy Feat. Wizkid
Boomplay, Africa’s top streaming platform owned by Transsion has just closed a $20 million Series A funding round, for content acquisition, recruitment and product optimization. Music across the continent is widely fragmented but remains one of the last true growth opportunities in the world. This begs the question: is Boomplay’s long term play to get acquired by streaming giants like Spotify (SPOT -0.28%) or Apple Music (AAPL -0.36%)?
Why This Matters: The success of streaming has attracted lots of new investment and longtime owners have seen an opportunity to cash out. Much of Boomplay’s growth is due to the streaming service coming pre-installed on Transsion smartphones, which are the best selling ones in the continent. This strategy has allowed Boomplay to quickly reach 44 million active users. By comparison Spotify and Apple music have 200 million and 56 million active users.
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![Millennials Shelling Out Big Racks for Fine Art Work]()
By Donitra Clemons
CBx Vibe: “Going Bad” Meek Mill Feat. Drake
Many millennials are foregoing starter homes and instead buying art. They are choosing to leave the cheap reprints in their college dorm rooms and invest in original pieces by fine artists. Catalyzed by higher incomes and the ubiquitousness of the internet, millennials are purchasing more art than the generations before them. In the last two years, 22-37 year old adults bought almost half of the artwork priced at $1 million or more, according to a new Art Market report by Art Basel and UBS.
Why This Matters: The purchasing power of these young collectors helped to boost the “global art market to its second-highest level in a decade,” notes the report. A substantial amount of their purchases were sourced or purchased through social media, where black adults are the largest user group. Specifically, the Art Market report noted that 93% of millennials made purchases online, spending and average of $106,930.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “It’s Raining Men” The Weather Girls
California-based company Grindr, the popular gay dating app with 27 million users worldwide has ruffled national security feathers. A U.S. government committee has pressured the platforms Chinese owner, Kunlun Tech to sell the app over national security concerns. Is the notion that a dating app could threaten national security misplaced?
Why This Matters: With more than 3 million daily active users, Grindr keeps a lot of social data on them. The hookup app’s privacy policy notes they collect a wide range of personal data including location information, messages, and even HIV status if users choose to provide it. One of the most exposed groups is likely black gay and bisexual men, because in 2017 they accounted for the largest number of HIV diagnoses at 9,807, followed by Hispanic with 7,436 and whites at 6,982, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read MoreBy Sabrina Lynch
CBx Vibe: “Computer Love” Zapp
In a first of its kind deal, Warner Music Group has signed German technology company Endel to its label, to expedite business growth through A.I. generated music. Streaming now accounts for almost half of all music label revenues, prompting the record company to place big financial bets on Endel. This new tie up will create a stable of tracks from bona fide artists, namely bundles of algorithms to successfully displace artists such as Post Malone and J. Cole from the top of the charts.
Why This Matters: African-Americans’ choice in music streaming played a crucial role in making R&B/Hip Hop the No.1 music genre in the U.S. Given the commercial power that Black audiences wield over the industry, Nielsen found they spend $173 annually on purchased music. Warner Music Group will greatly benefit from developing tracks that appeal to this demographic so they can cash out in a big way.
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![For the Culture: The Black Woman Putting NFL Players on Game Post-Career]()
By Denise Garcia
CBx Vibe: “Almeda” Solange
Ever heard that 78% of NFL players go broke two years into retirement? The widely-cited Sports Illustrated report pointed that joblessness and divorce led to financial distress or bankruptcy two years into retirement. Whether an NFL player has a long or short career span, high or lower-end earnings, a 2015 study by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at The George Washington University, states that neither of these factors “provide much protection against the risk of going bankrupt.” Rashida Gayle, 27, an Atlanta-based director of talent at GSE Worldwide, is burning the midnight oil to put the fate of NFL athletes in their own hands.
Why This Matters: The actual stats about what percentage of football retirees file for bankruptcy seems to be debatable. For instance, the GFLEC study noted its results were notably different from the Sports Illustrated report, and claimed only 2% of players go bankrupt within two years. However, that number shoots up to about 16% after 12 years of retirement. Nonetheless, even an isolated incident begs the question: how can one make millions of dollars and mismanage it into depletion?
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