Hotdogs on the grill, Brad Pitt & Vogue 🌭
This Week in Review ☕️ : The end of a Fashion Era after 40 years | Apple dominates the box office | Beef prices skyrocket to 75-year high | Oracle signs biggest deal in industry history | 4th of July
This Week’s Partner💡: RoseSkin Co.
Portable, painless, and saves you from years of waxing bills? YES, please.
This at-home Laser Hair Removal device by RoseSkinCo. is a total gamechanger guys!
With IPL tech that’s dermat-approved, it reduces hair growth in weeks, costs way less than in-clinic treatments, and actually works. For men and women BOTH. Check it out here
Quick Bites:
Fashion 👠: Anna Wintour is officially stepping down as the Editor-in-Chief after 36 years at American Vogue.
Parent company Condé Nast confirmed the news Thursday, and yes- the entire fashion industry collectively clutched its pearls.
But before you throw your Met Gala tiara across the room, here’s the fine print:
Anna is NOT leaving Condé Nast entirely. She’s keeping her roles as:
-Global Editorial Director of Vogue
-Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast
Which basically means: she may be stepping back from American Vogue, but she still runs… well, almost everything else. From Wired to Vanity Fair to Glamour. If it has a logo and a legacy, she’s still in charge.
Guys, this isn’t just about one person leaving a job. It’s the end of an era- BUT with sunglasses on.
Wintour turned the magazine into a cultural force- from launching supermodels and crowning designers to crushing publicists with a single effing look.
👓 Her glasses? Never slipped.
👠 Her bob? Never moved.
🧊 Her tone? Resting b*tch face. ALWAYS.
According to The NY Post, Vogue US’s new head of editorial content will lead the magazine’s daily operations across platforms.
The person who fills that role will report directly to Wintour, in keeping with the heads of editorial content at all Vogues.
Our Thoughts💡:
Tbh what Anna was for Vogue since 1988, Gen Z is building across Substack, Instagram and TikTok today.
Taste is being crowdsourced. The gatekeeping elusive model is vanishing. And Fashion? It’s no longer defined by the front row- it’s defined by what’s trending on Pinterest, Reels, and that girl in Copenhagen who styled a Loewe balloon bag with her old grandpa’s fishing vest 🎣🎣🎣
Culture x Food🌭: It’s American Independence Day this weekend and nothing says 4th of July more than a summer cookout with hotdogs on the grill, BBQ everything, corn on the cobb and an easy peach cobbler.
And America's independence, ofcourse 🙄
However, if you’re grilling this July 4th, you might have to budget your burger as Beef prices just hit a 10-year high, WSJ reports.
According to the American Farm Bureau, two pounds of ground beef now average $13.33- and it’s not just inflation.
Background💡: The US cattle supply has dropped to its lowest point in 75 years, largely thanks to droughts that hit key ranching regions:
Droughts across the Midwest and Southwest over the past few years forced ranchers to reduce their herds
High feed costs, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions
And when supply drops, prices climb- basic Econ 101, need we say more?
So what does that mean for your backyard BBQ?
A cookout for 10 this year will run around $70.92, which is a 19% jump from five years ago.
So yeah, your burgers just got a luxury rebrand🍔💸 .. Now available in: rare, medium, and financially irresponsible 😌
Our Thoughts💡: Speaking of July 4th.. on a related but unrelated note:
For those unaware, "Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest" has been held in Coney Island every 4th of July since 1972.
The world's most competitive eaters. 10 minutes to eternal glory. It all goes down this weekend.
Breaking: Donald Trump and Netanyahu have officially entered the Championship.
Only condition: The weiner must be atleast 7 inches long 🌭🌭🌭
Entertainment🍿: Apple scores big with F1.
The blockbuster hit has raked in $55.6 million domestically and $144 million globally over opening weekend- making it Apple’s first true box-office hit.
The tech giant just PROVED can do blockbusters, not just boutique Indie films like "Argylle" and "Fly Me to the Moon" which were total flops
Why It Works:
Brad Pitt: His on-screen charisma and real-deal driving pushed this over the edge
IMAX lovers: Nearly 19–23% of tickets came from premium big screens- because if you're gonna watch, you might as well do it in Dolby Atmos-worthy mode.
Word-of-mouth: Everything Rotten Tomatoes gave it a stellar 97%, and CinemaScore audiences were all positive reviews as well.
Background:
Costly gamble: The film’s budget reportedly ran north of $200–300 million, counting both production and marketing.
Profit pit stop: Though it needs some serious legs to break even, strong early box-office and a boost to Apple stock (up ~3%) are looking promising.
Our Thoughts💡: We just watched F1 this past weekend and let us tell you: It was so fast and SO good, it ANNIHILATED Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” 🤛
Apple didn’t just drop a movie - they lapped the entire streaming grid 🏁📈
Big Tech 💻 : Oracle secures landmark $30 Billion Cloud Deal.
Oracle has signed a monumental $30 billion cloud infrastructure agreement with a single client, according to a regulatory filing disclosed Monday.
While the identity of the customer remains confidential, Bloomberg reports that the agreement represents one of the largest cloud service contracts ever recorded.
The announcement triggered a surge in Oracle's stock, reflecting investor confidence in the long-term revenue visibility the deal provides.
🔍 Key Facts:
Value: $30 billion over the life of the agreement
Type: Annual cloud service contract
Client: Undisclosed
Term: Begins contributing revenue in Oracle’s fiscal year 2028
Oracle CEO Safra Catz commented that the company is “off to a strong start” this year, pointing to this deal and other large-scale cloud wins as momentum builders for its enterprise cloud business.
Key Highlights:
Long-Term Revenue: ensures a multi-year revenue stream beginning FY2028
Market Positioning: trengthens Oracle’s standing in the hyperscale cloud infrastructure market, where it competes with giants like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud
Trust: Securing a single client for a $30 billion contract indicates a high level of confidence in Oracle’s cloud architecture, scalability, and service delivery
Our Thoughts💡: Tbh this deal is not just a win for Oracle- it’s a statement to the broader cloud market that the company is still a serious contender, particularly for clients seeking long-term, stable solutions.
Fiscal 2028 may be a few years away, but Wall Street is already pricing in the promise 💰💰💰
Quicker Bites:
🌍 India launched its first Maritime NBFC to boost the shipping sector under its Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
💼 India’s FM Sitharaman is in Europe and South America for a UN conference on global financial reform.
🌐 US trade strategy shifts to phased deals, avoiding full-scale reciprocal agreements but keeping tariffs in play.
💶 The euro notches a nine-day winning streak as investors favor Europe amid American policy concern.
📈 Wall Street closed H1 2025 strong, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq reaching record highs while global trade optimism helped lift markets.
⚠️ Investors are bracing for a potential August sell-off, adopting defensive strategies as volatility and geopolitical risks.
🔄 First-half market themes include political drama, tariff jitters, and a flight to safe-haven assets like gold and Chinese tech.