Good morning, Peter Vanham here from rainy and cold Belgium, filling in for Alan.
Barbie this weekend affirmatively answered a billion dollar question: Whether a movie solely directed by a woman, starring a woman in the lead role, could ever become a mega Hollywood success. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has surpassed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, becoming one of just 53 movies to do so (not accounting for inflation). It is the only film solely directed by a woman to pass that threshold.
Barbie‘s blockbuster performance has capped the summer of the woman consumer. The film, the mega-popular tours of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé (each of which has disrupted local economies), and the ongoing Women’s World Cup—already hailed as the “most successful” in history—have underscored the enormous importance of the female dollar.
Some investors, like Angel City FC co-founder Kara Nortman, long ago noticed that women—fans of women’s sports, in Nortman’s case—were underserved. Once people are “showing up and caring about something, they become these very active consumers of content, of merchandise,” she told Coins2Day‘s Leadership Next podcast last month.
If anyone still doubted the power of the female purse, this summer should have won them over. Swift’s Eras tour alone is projected to add $5 billion to the global economy.
That show of force is all the more reason for women’s perspective to be fully represented in business leadership. And as Coins2Day’s Global 500 list of companies shows, there is still a long way to go. Just under 6% of those leading the world’s largest companies are women today, a record, but still far too low. The same goes for Coins2Day 500 companies, where 10% of CEOs are women.
Firms that fail to understand and account for the female consumer are likely leaving dollars on the table. As Nortman put it, there’s a lot of upside. “I actually think it is going to be the biggest value creation opportunity I see in my career and many see in their career,” she says.
More news below.
Peter Vanham
[email protected]
@petervanham
TOP NEWS
Berkshire cash
Berkshire Hathaway increased its cash holdings to $147 billion last quarter, suggesting that legendary investor Warren Buffett is struggling to find bargains in today’s market. Buffett has dismissed worries about U.S. Government debt after last week’s downgrade by Fitch Ratings, telling CNBC that he had bought $20 billion in Treasuries in the last two weeks alone. Berkshire also reported $26 billion in unrealized gains from its investments last quarter. Coins2Day
Bad apple
Apple lost $130 billion in market capitalization—worth more than the value of all but 50 U.S. Companies—on Friday as investors worried about declining device sales. Chief Executive Tim Cook warned of a “challenging smartphone market in the U.S.” On the company’s earnings call last Thursday. Now, to justify its valuation at nearly $3 trillion, Apple may need to turn to services, which are not yet growing fast enough to offset weak device sales. Coins2Day
Chinese pressure
Chinese regulators are reportedly putting pressure on analysts and economists to downplay bad news and negative commentary on the struggling Chinese economy. Authorities want economists to “interpret bad news from a positive light,” said one advisor to China’s central bank. China’s economy is flirting with deflation, with consumer price inflation hitting zero in June. Financial Times.
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Sunday at 3 p.m.: Why this is both the best and worst time to send a work email by Orianna Rosa Royle
You’d need to work 5 lifetimes just to make your boss’s annual salary, report says by Chloe Taylor
Remote work is killing productivity, the experts and CEOs say—except it just surged the most in nearly 3 years by Jane Thier
Crypto.com was among dozens of potential suitors for FTX Europe. But the bankruptcy estate isn’t selling it by Leo Schwartz
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read insights from Coins2Day CEO Alan Murray. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
