👙 Kim Kardashian’s Skims Partners With Nike To Create NikeSKIMS

In today’s newsletter we discuss Kim Kardashian’s Skims partners with Nike to create NikeSKIMS, HP acquires Humane’s AI business, Benny Blanco gives his fiance Selena Gomez a bathtub full of nacho cheese for Valentine's Day, Apple brings Apple TV+ to Android users, there’s a new 638 foot long superyacht called REV Ocean, and Lewis Hamilton is super pumped about the start of his Ferrari career.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

🩱 Nike Partners With Kim Kardashian’s Skims To Form NikeSKIMS

Nike just signed a long-term partnership deal with Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims, and together they are launching a new brand called NikeSKIMS.

Skims was valued at $4 billion as recently as 2023 when it raised $270 million in funding from investors including Celeres Investments, Greenoaks Capital Partners, Wellington Management, D1 Capital Partners, and Lone Pine Capital. In total Skims has raised KIMS has raised $729 million dollars across 5 funding rounds.

After the partnership was announced on Tuesday, February 19 Nike’s share price rose 6.2% to close at $77.59, adding $6.7 billion dollars to Nike’s market cap.

This partnership between Nike and Skims to create NikeSKIMS could not boost Nike’s bottom line, but could also add billions to Kim Kardashian’s net worth, which is estimated to be worth $1.7 billion dollars.

📷 Business

What happens when product designers from a very successful company go out on their own without understanding the market? You get the Humane’s Ai Pin, which debuted in the Fall of 2023 to great fanfare for what it promised, but critics and early users gave it failing marks and reviews.

Now Humane has sold their AI-powered platform Cosmos, all of their intellectual property with more than 300 patents and patent applications, and the majority of Humane’s highly skilled employees, to HP in a deal worth $116 million dollars.

When Humane first hit social media everyone was swooning over their innovative Ai Pin, and how visionary their founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno are, who both hail from Apple which is well known for their product design. Following the sale of Humane’s assets, the company will be wound down, and the Ai Pin will be discontinued, and both founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno will join a new division at HP devoted to integrating AI into every part of HP.

🧀 Entertainment

How do you show the person you love the most in the world how much you really love them? If you’re Benny Blanco then you give your fiance Selena Gomez a bathtub full of nacho cheese for Valentine's Day.

Because nothing says “I Love You” more than nacho cheese!

No word yet if the happy couple actually bathed in the ooey-gooey goodness that is nacho cheese!

📺 Tech

Apple is bringing their Apple TV+ app to all those green bubble-having Android users. This move will greatly expand Apple’s marketshare, and potentially tap into the 3.9 billion Android users in the world.

🚤 Superyachts

If you’re a billionaire who’s jealous of the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, and don’t already have your own superyacht you’re in luck, because the company that built both of those billionaire’s support ships is now building the world's largest superyacht for the Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke.

The superyacht REV Ocean comes in at 638 feet, and is currently being outfitting at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen in the Netherlands. The superyacht REV Ocean cost between $350 million and $500 million to build, then add in another 10% or more to the initial purchase price, meaning that for every $100 million you spend on a superyacht, you can expect to spend another $10 million plus outfitting it with high-end finishes, custom design elements, and specialized equipment depending on the owner's preferences. Best estimates would suggest if the superyacht REV Ocean cost $500 million to build, then it’ll cost more than $50 million to outfit, and that’s before you add in the cost of the submarines and helicopter the superyacht can accommodate.

🏁 Sports

We’re around a month away from the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season, and Lewis Hamilton is super pumped about the start of his Ferrari career.

Lewis Hamilton decided to leave Mercedes during the 2024 season in a shocking announcement as he signed with Ferrari for a staggering $446 million dollars over 2-years for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, but his contract goes beyond just driving for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton will earn $87 million for 2025, with 25% of that amount, or $21.75 million a year, going to his charity Mission 44, leaving him with $65.25 million a year in driver’s salary. And then there’s also an option to extend his contract with the same deal terms for the 2026 race season.

Then Ferrari got creative, and did something Mercedes wasn’t able to (or willing to) do. 

Ferrari’s Chairman John Elkann offered to create a joint-investment fund via Ferrari’s parent brand Exor, worth over $272 million dollars, where Lewis Hamilton would serve as the ambassador for the portfolio. 

This would allow Lewis Hamilton to have a role with Ferrari after his days of driving are over, and empower him to use not only his star power but also the investment fund’s money to “reimagine the future and empower young people from underserved communities”, to quote Lewis Hamilton’s charity Mission 44’s website.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.