A Black-run investment firm bets on Black travel: ‘We wanted to add a layer of intentionality’
William Huston’s Bay Street Capital Holdings weathers the recent market dip and sets its sights on the hospitality industryIn the year since the Guardian profiled William Huston, the founder and chief investment officer of Bay Street Capital Holdings, a California-based wealth-management firm that invests in the stock market along with a portfolio of small, minority-owned businesses, the US market has undergone great volatility. The S&P 500 index peaked in the first week of 2022, but by mid-October had dipped 26.7%. Meanwhile, Huston’s firm’s portfolio has maintained its valuation of $85m (£70m), and its staff of 16 has not had to downsize.Huston chalks up his company’s health to one specific pivot. His firm has been doubling down on an untapped and underserved segment of the US economy: Black-owned travel holdings. “Black travelers in America spend $109bn (£90bn) on leisure travel annually, and only $1bn (£831m) goes to Black-owned hotels,” he said of the disparity besetting the US travel industry. Black-owned hotels make up 0.8% of the 58,000 hotels in the US. Less than 1% of the money that all African Americans spend on leisure travel ends up with Black-owned properties. Continue reading...
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William Huston’s Bay Street Capital Holdings weathers the recent market dip and sets its sights on the hospitality industry
In the year since the Guardian profiled William Huston, the founder and chief investment officer of Bay Street Capital Holdings, a California-based wealth-management firm that invests in the stock market along with a portfolio of small, minority-owned businesses, the US market has undergone great volatility. The S&P 500 index peaked in the first week of 2022, but by mid-October had dipped 26.7%. Meanwhile, Huston’s firm’s portfolio has maintained its valuation of $85m (£70m), and its staff of 16 has not had to downsize.
Huston chalks up his company’s health to one specific pivot. His firm has been doubling down on an untapped and underserved segment of the US economy: Black-owned travel holdings. “Black travelers in America spend $109bn (£90bn) on leisure travel annually, and only $1bn (£831m) goes to Black-owned hotels,” he said of the disparity besetting the US travel industry. Black-owned hotels make up 0.8% of the 58,000 hotels in the US. Less than 1% of the money that all African Americans spend on leisure travel ends up with Black-owned properties. Continue reading...
