Harvesting Unicorns: Fake Moo, Fake Money

Beyond Meat Inc., the company created by vegan Ethan Brown in 2009, raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to grow its line of plant-based meats, with shares rocketing in their public debut.

The maker of the Beyond Burger, which is sold at Whole Foods and restaurant chain TGIF, among others, priced its initial public offering at $25 a share Wednesday evening, raising at least $240 million at a valuation slightly shy of $1.5 billion.

Beyond Meat BYND, +5.47% priced the IPO at the top of a range that it had already increased during the process. The company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it planned to offer 9.5 million shares priced at $23 to $25 each, updating the original plan to offer 8.75 million shares priced at $19 to $21 each. In the end, it sold 9.63 million shares, with underwriters holding the option to sell another 1.44 million shares in case of over-allotment. The stock began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “BYND.”

BUT:

It has never made a profit

Beyond Meat has successfully grown its revenue over the years, but has yet to produce a profit. In the first nine months of 2018, the company generated revenue of $56.4 million, more than double the $21.1 million posted in the year-earlier period, and more than the $32.6 million posted for all of 2017.

But its net loss in the nine-month period came to $22.4 million, only slightly less than the $23.4 million loss posted in the year-earlier period. The company’s loss for 2017 came to $30.4 million, wider than the $24.1 million loss posted in 2016.

MarketWatch

Dispatches from Clown World: Comb-bridge Airdressers!

Brace for it because you couldn't make this up! File under 'WTF'.

Cambridge pro-vice-chancellor says black students are not applying for places 'because there's not enough specialist Afro-Caribbean hairdressers in the city'

The pro-vice chancellor of Cambridge University has claimed that black students aren't applying for places at the prestigious institution due to a lack of 'specialist Afro-Caribbean hairdressers in the city'.

Professor Graham Virgo cited the 'unexpected' research findings during an event at King's College, Cambridge, and stated that this was one of the barriers from stopping black students applying.

It comes as the founder of a programme to assist black student applying to Oxford or Cambridge, Naomi Kellman, said it's a problem that 'comes up frequently'.

Speaking at an event, Prof Virgo, who is also a QC and expert in criminal law said: 'We have been doing some quite detailed research, particularly with black students, particularly in London, looking at obstacles to applying to Cambridge and thinking about Cambridge. And number three on the list was hairdressers.

Prof Virgo said researchers had asked prospective students what the obstacles were in applying to Cambridge.

'The real message was about hairdressers.

'It's unexpected but we need to look at applying to Cambridge from their eyes. For those students this is their concern. Really being able to engage with these perceptions enables us to say 'how are we going to respond to that?'

How indeed? All flock to Combridge, yee specialist Afro-Caribbean hairdressers, fortunes there await yee!

Daily Hatemail

Air Force intel bod Daniel Hale charged with 'leaking top secret drone documents' to journo

A former US Air Force intelligence analyst who fed documents to the press detailing the American military's classified drone programs has been indicted on five criminal charges.

Daniel Hale, 31, is believed to have been the source of top-secret documents that lead to reports from The Intercept in 2015 and 2016 detailing the Air Force's use of unmanned drones in combat operations.

A grand jury indicted Hale on one charge each of obtaining national defense information, retention and transmission of national defense information, causing the communication of national defense information, disclosure of classified communications intelligence information, and theft of government property. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each charge if convicted.

According to the indictment (PDF, see link in source page), Hale met an unnamed reporter – widely assumed to be Intercept editor Jeremy Scahill – in 2013 and 2014, and handed over printouts of documents classified as secret and top secret.

[...]

"These documents detailed a secret, unaccountable process for targeting and killing people around the world, including US citizens, through drone strikes. They are of vital public importance, and activity related to their disclosure is protected by the First Amendment," said editor-in-chief Betsy Reed.

"The alleged whistleblower faces up to 50 years in prison. No one has ever been held accountable for killing civilians in drone strikes."

The Register.

The Coming Collapse of the American Economic System with Richard Wolff

Chris Hedges speaks with Richard Wolff.

Rachel Maddow's gone full Raquel Madcow now

I'm not wasting much time on this, so just watch the video:

Or read about it at zerohedge.

She gets $7 Million per year for spewing this drivel. $.7.Million. Compare that to a full time Walmart worker's earnings...

Quiz: How much did the 'Big O' get for their 'his-and-hers' memoirs?

Was it:

a. $32 million

b. $450,000

c. $65 million

d. $4.5 million

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Eight Ways Donald Trump might lose the 2020 election...

He might die in his sleep. He's quite healthy, so not very probable. (P≈0.00000001 %)

He might die in a skiing accident. He doesn't ski, so not very probable. (P≈0.000000000001 %)

He might die in a crash of Air Force One. (P≈0.0000000001 %)

He might die in a crash of Marine One. (P≈0.000000001 %)

He might be shot by a right-wing lunatic (for 'not building the wall'). Americans tend to assassinate the 'wrong' presidents, so not very probable. (P≈0.000000001 %)

He might be shot by an agent of the Deep State. (P≈0.000000001 %)

He might be poisoned by an agent of the Deep State. (P≈0.000000001 %)

The Democrats field a progressive candidate with a 'populist progressive manifesto', who defeats Trump. (P≈0 %)

(P are estimated probabilities, as a percentage)