Barbie, Skims & Rolex💗

This Week in Review☕️: SKIMS raises funding at $4 billion valuation | Demand for Rolex & Omega rises despite price increases | A blockbuster movie weekend | Tech companies plegde to the White House |

This Week’s Partner💡: CookUnity

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Quick Bites:

Business👚: Kim Kardashian's "SKIMS" shapewear brand raises fresh funding at a value of $4 billion.

And to think it all started with a PG-13 tape with a C-list rapper. Spectacular turn of events 

Key Highlights, according to Axios:

💡Skims raised $270 million in a Series C funding round led by Wellington Management

💡The company has raised a total of $670mn since its founding in 2019

💡Skims is set to bring in over $750mn in net sales this year, from $500mn last year

💡In the last year, 11 million people have joined waitlists for popular Skims products

💡Around 70% of customers are GenZ or millennials

💡The funds will be used to develop new products, enter new categories and open retail stores

"Skims’s latest investment raises questions about when it intends to go public, given both the company’s swelling valuation and the involvement of Wellington, which is known for investing in companies before they go public"
-The Times notes.

Numbers are unreal tbh.. just hoping Kylie didn't do the books🤔

Our Thoughts:

💡A DVD Diva
💡A Reality TV Star
💡A Cover Girl
💡A Beauty Mogul
💡A Fashion Designer
💡A MVP

We see you Kim K! As the billionaire herself says "not bad for a girl with no talent."
Not bad indeed!

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Luxury🧭: Demand for luxury watches soar, despite rising prices.

Shares of 'Swatch Group' and 'Watches of Switzerland' both rose this week after reporting better than expected results for the first half of the year.

Swatch Group counts Omega, Blancpain, Breguet, and Longines among its luxury brands.
While Watches of Switzerland is an authorized dealer for Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Chopard among others, Yahoo News report.

The 10 stages of money:

Stage 1: No watch
Stage 2: No watch
Stage 3: Swatch
Stage 4: No watch
Stage 5: No watch
Stage 6: Rolex
Stage 7: Audemar Piguet
Stage 8: Patek Philippe
Stage 9: No watch
Stage 10: Apple watch

Swatch shares rose by 7% as the CEO said revenue may reach a record this year helped by demand in China and the US.

Watches of Switzerland Group Plc surged as much as 18%.

Appetite for high-end timepieces remains high as high net-worth individuals shrug off inflation.

Our Thoughts💡: That G-shock felt like a Patek in '08 y'all

PS. You DEF weren't one of the cool kids if you didn't have a G-shock, Nike Jordans and a Blackberry during this decade

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Entertainment🎥: 'Barbenheimer' dominates the box office.

“Barbie” opened to a record $155 million, giving the film the largest opening weekend of 2023.

Life in plastic, it's Bombastic💖

Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” surpassed expectations by raking in a solid $80.5 million in ticket sales.

The dual release grossed over $300mn in North America, and it's now the 4th-biggest weekend in US box office history, according to analytics company Comscore.

BOOOM! These movies just made history! Enough so that the cultural craze known as 'Barbermeimer' has its own Wiki page👇🏻

According to Wikipedia:

“Barbenheimer": an internet phenomenon that began circulating on social media prior to the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, due to their greatly differing tones and subject matter."

💡Barbie: A plastic doll icon. A PG-13-rated film. A sizzling Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling

💡Oppenheimer: An atomic scientist. An R-rated movie featuring. Disturbing scenes of mass destruction

💡Both together: An explosion of FUN

It’s worth noting the top 3 blockbuster weekends were led by masive franchises like the 'Avengers' and 'Star Wars'.

The success of both films signals to Hollywood that the public wants less franchise releases and more original storytelling, The New York Times.

Our Thoughts💡:  We been scrolling on social media and so many peeps been sitting in a theater for 6 hours!

Kudos to those who braved the dark with only buttered popcorn and soda to make it through. Serious display of focus and stamina!🙌🏻

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Artificial Intelligence📱: Tech companies pledge to the White House to make AI safer, including adding a watermark so it’s clear when the technology has been used.

The aim is to help users identify AI-generated content such as deep-fake videos and manipulated audio, Reuters reports.

The 7 companies, including Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, OpenAI and Microsoft, have pledged to invest in cybersecurity and test their systems extensively prior to launching.

The companies will ensure that the technology is not biased and not used to discriminate against vulnerable/ minority groups.

They also pledged to use AI to help with climate change and medical research.

Our Thoughts💡: The world has watched artificial intelligence dominate headlines for most of this year.

Enough so, that Google co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly returned to the company to help develop its next large artificial-intelligence system.

With revenues expected to hit $126bn by 2025, according to Statista, the hype has been real.

How useful do you think these pledges can help us eliminate AI risks? Send us a reply back and let us know! 

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Quicker Bites:

• Twitter rebrands as X.

• Paris to bring back swimming in Seine after 100 years.

• Apple to make 85mn iPhones in 2023.

• Spotify sets first US price hike.

• Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘terrorism’ after drone strike near Moscow army HQ.

• Protests rock Israel as it passes curbs on some Supreme Court powers.

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