palm beach exotic dancers are raking it in
"when I start talking about Trump, they tip more"
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Colossal Biosciences raises $200M to bring back woolly mammoths
Supreme Court case on age limits for porn sites could affect 19 states
Airbnb’s ramping up lobbying to reverse NYC’s restrictions on short-term rentals
As I struggle to adjust to my newly vertical Instagram grid, Meta has been offering $10,000 to $50,000 bonuses to TikTok creators who post exclusively on Reels before other platforms, while X is preparing to roll out a dedicated vertical video feed for US users. Meanwhile, Pinterest has been shopping around a 2-page pitch deck to poach TikTok advertisers. Key words include: “Gen Z audience” and “brand safety.”
I think it means something that Addison Rae is on the cover of Rolling Stone announcing her debut album as the fate of TikTok hangs in the balance.
Bumble’s stock rose 8.8% after Whitney Wolfe Heard announced her return as CEO in March, a year after becoming executive chair. Current CEO Lidiane Jones is leaving for “personal reasons.”
Venture capital’s latest strategy is private equity-style roll-ups. VC firms like General Catalyst and 8V are investing in service-oriented startups with the hope of combining them with other firms—a strategy inspired by their PI counterparts. For example, Long Lake, a General Catalyst portfolio company, plans to acquire homeowners' associations and use AI to streamline operations. Loop, an 8VC portfolio company, is building its own AI agents to help payment providers manage transportation and budgets. The company has acquired a freight payment provider and is in the process of purchasing another. “I would have been laughed out of the room if I pitched VCs on the strategy,” Loop co-founder Matt McKinney told The Information. Now, he said, it's “the hottest thing in Silicon Valley.”
Nate Anderson, preeminent activist short-seller and founder of Hindenburg Research, is calling it quits eight years after founding the company. Hindenburg's M.O. was to conduct deep investigative research to uncover financial fraud or mismanagement, publish detailed reports exposing their findings, and take short positions in the companies they targeted, profiting from stock price declines. They were behind many of the highest-profile bets against stocks over the past few years, including Roblox, Nikola, and Adani Enterprises. “I’ve spent most of the last eight years either in a fight or preparing for the next one,” he told The Wall Street Journal. He looks forward to taking up hobbies, traveling, and spending time with his fiancée and their child.
23andMe is reportedly exploring the sale of Lemonaid, the virtual-care startup it acquired in 2021 for $400 million when it was valued at $3.5 billion. As of last Friday, 23andMe was valued at about $91 million.
Sami Reiss called Happier Grocer a “hotspot for the fashion industry” in an article for SSENSE. Founder Wells Stellberger, a former Marc Jacobs designer, told him, “Items on the shelf are treated like artifacts.” Fun.
Yesterday, Trump announced a $100 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to create computing infrastructure to power AI. The initiative, called Stargate, could eventually invest as much as $500 billion over the next four years. On Monday, he rolled back an executive order from Biden that imposed standards on safety and other requirements for government use of AI, and during yesterday’s news briefing, promised to accelerate the production of American-made AI to compete with China for global leadership in the technology. “This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential,” he said.
Over in Silicon Valley, tech companies are freaking out about Chinese spies. As
writes for Business Insider, “A new Red Scare has taken over the tech world.” Last summer, the Financial Times reported that tech companies like Google and OpenAI have stepped up their security vetting for staff and potential recruits in the last year. Sequoia Capital has encouraged some portfolio companies to tighten staff vetting after warnings that spy agencies are targeting U.S. tech developers. Members of the Chinese diaspora in Silicon Valley are starting to feel the strain, and many Chinese startup founders are beginning to de-emphasize their nationality, including downplaying their accents. One founder of a consumer AI startup told Jasmine that an investor asked her to remove the word "China" from a pitch deck and replace it with "Asia."Anna Delvey celebrated her freedom (from house arrest) by hosting a dinner for Selleb founders Chloe and Claire Lee. According to Page Six, she and publicist Kelly Cutrone are working on a new media project with “a pretty established production company.”
, a discovery app where you can snoop on what the coolest people on the internet are buying, loving, or consuming, runs one of my favorite Substacks. I texted Chloe to learn about the consumer trends she’s noticing on the app, which is still in beta. “This is probably winter specific, but we’re seeing a lot more pantry items and accessories this month. Oh and face masks and (note)books!! I’m finding myself getting more inspired to cook and read this winter.”The Paris Olympic medals produced by LVMH are allegedly deteriorating because they were missing a varnish recently banned in France. In just over 100 days since the Olympics closed, more than 100 athletes have asked for their crumbling medals to be replaced. A spokesman for the company said because it did not make the medals and is not responsible for them, LVMH has no comment. Could have sworn otherwise, but I guess they have bigger problems.
Women are coping with the Trump election by inducing endorphins. “I talked to a woman in Seattle who told me she’s been working out almost daily since the election. Another told me her first reaction to Trump’s win was to go out and buy a Pilates reformer. One boxing instructor in Manhattan revealed that people have been coming up to him before class to tell him just how much they need to hit something.”
predicted this back in November with her post Post-Election, Beware 'Self-Care'.Palm Beach bar owners and exotic dancers say they’re seeing more business from people in MAGA hats. An influx of world leaders and power brokers flocking to Mar-a-Lago has meant top restaurants are booked out, nightclubs are packed, and traffic is at its peak. People from nearby towns are also making the trip to Palm Beach in hopes of catching a glimpse of Elon Musk or attending events connected to Trump. Big club signs with phrases like "TRUMP 2024" and "FUCK OBAMA" have been spotted at nightclubs as young voters celebrate the inauguration. A local real-estate agent told Business Insider that Palm Beach home sales exploded in the wake of the election. The president of the Palm Beach Young Republicans said membership has spiked from 30 in 2023 to 300 presently— 75% of the members are from out of state. One exotic dancer said of MAGA-hat-wearing clientele, “When I start talking about Trump, they tip more.”
Each year (since last year), The Washington Post’s Department of Data releases a U.S. reading trends report. 64% of Americans read a book last year, up from 54% the year before. 11% read at least 20 books last year.
Women, White Americans, and higher earners tend to have twice as many super-readers…
but this year, young people, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans showed “much-improved readership.”
Liberals read almost twice as much as conservatives, nonparents read almost twice as much as parents, and older people read far more than younger people.
Readers of literary fiction, historical fiction and short stories are most likely to have read at least 20 books, while readers of academic, hobby-related and political volumes are least likely to be big readers.
There’s also some really interesting data about how people—young people, in particular—have been using libraries more often since the pandemic.
The only time I’ve wanted to be Kendall Jenner was in this outfit. Someone in the DeuxMoi comments section said Hailey is cosplaying as Bigfoot, and I can’t unsee it.
Kanye West is waging a "John Wick vendetta against every fashion company," starting with the launch of Yzy Women's. He says we should all BE AFRAID.
Expect to see a lot more paid features in your favorite Substack newsletters.
told The Wall Street Journal she expects ads to make up around 20% of her revenue in 2025, up from 10% in 2023. Feed Me’s lets sponsors buy the interviewee slot in her Guest Lecture feature. And sells classifieds in her newsletter. Substack competitor Beehiv has allowed writers to make money from its ad network for a while now, and with brands eyeing Substack as a marketing channel amid social media instability, I don’t see people being willing to leave that extra revenue on the table, especially as the platform gets more saturated. People can only pay for so much.We’ll also be seeing more brands (and founders) start Substack publications. After seeing this LinkedIn post from Long Live founder
this morning, I texted her for more thoughts on what she’s noticing: “I think brands in the fashion space have already laid claim on Substack in really profound ways, mostly through ShopMy integrations. If you’re in skincare, beauty, or tech, now’s the time. My take on whether a brand should start its own Substack has evolved since I’ve helped founders launch them. If you enjoy writing, are willing to spend hours on the platform weekly, and are committed to a long-term project, go for it. Otherwise, hiring someone fluent in Substack is a smarter investment.”
Another side effect of the media subscription boom: bundles. Axios reported that The New York Times is exploring bundled subscription partnerships with smaller publishers to expand its subscriber base in the U.S. The way I see it, media bundling is a when, not an if.
Hollywood filmmakers are using sex scenes to explore complex power dynamics between characters.
Unlike my entire group chat (and TikTok feed), Tina Brown does not care about Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. I ate up her interview with
for Books+ Bits. “Silicon Valley treats journalists like content providers, who can be paid chicken feed while they clean up on all the profits. I think that's an enraging injustice, actually, and I don't know if there's any kind of fightback at this point. In this current era, the Elon Musk era as one has to think of it, it’s become brazen. There was a kind of a period where the digital people pretended to care about what was happening. They pretended to mind if their platforms were being abused.”
They’re already starting to bundle here too. I recently upgraded a subscription and it asked if I wanted a discount on other newsletters — something like 20 percent off a selection of 10-15 pubs. I think it’ll only increase as people flock to substack!
That comment about getting more tips when the dancer speaks about MAGA is wild. Thanks for balancing out the bad news with some fun news! Addison looks crazy good in the cover and I never thought I'd say I'm excited for her album but I am - those two singles were soo good!
Love that the reporting for more people reading is going up (thank god) and the rest of those stats are really interesting ! & think the inclusion of all ur substack news is really interesting. The medal disintegrating is TRAGIC, being a gold medalist is apparently not forever.