Square, Led by Jack Dorsey, Buys Big Chunk of Jay-Z's Tidal Streaming Music Service

Jay-Z is in deal-making mode, fresh off selling 50% of his Armand de Brignac champagne company — better known as Ace of Spades — to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Pundits underscore that reality that the entertainment industry has been hit hard by the pandemic.

“I think Roc Nation will be fine,” Jay-Z said in an interview last month about the sale of Armand de Brignac. “Like all entertainment companies, it will eventually recover. You just have to be smart and prudent at a time like this.”

Jay-Z still heads Roc Nation, a music and sports talent agency that represents Rihanna. Roc Nation acquired two California cannabis companies in November, and surely Jay-Z wants to advance that business.

Will Bernard Arnault eventually be in the cannabis business? AOC bets “probably’. Watching Arnault and his children at the center of a growing wheel of connections into the global community of Black artists and entrepreneurs is quite fascinating.

Without Telling the World How Great He Is, Jay-Z Gets A Seat on Square Board of Directors

The Financial Times reminds us that it was Jay-Z, not Kanye West, who was declared the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019. The factoid is interesting because after Kanye’s summer-long Twitter brouhaha about being God, damning Democrats, wanting to tear down Planned Parenthood and — oh yes — getting his masters back, along with a seat on the GAP board of directors, the much quieter and deliberate business person Jay-Z had his masters already — and now has a major board seat of influence.

Jay-Z is putting that notch on his belt as well, with Thursday’s announcement that Square, the mobile payments company founded and led by Jack Dorsey [also the co-founder and CEO of Twitter] has acquired a controlling interest in Tidal, the streaming music service owned by Jay-Z and other artists including Beyoncé, Jay-Z’s wife, and Rihanna in a $297 million deal.

Jay-Z will join the board of Square. Also of interest, as reported by the New York Times, Dorsey and Jay-Z mutually endowed a Bitcoin trust in February to support development in India and Africa.

In another piece of this growing Jay-Z awesome financial puzzle, the mogul has invested in Perch Credit, CEO Michael Broughton and CTO Ayush Jain. Perch Credit is aimed to help underserved communities boost their credit scores by reporting recurring payments like rent and subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify to the credit agencies.

Broughton, 22, spoke about Perch Credit securing the co-sign from JAY-Z’s Marcy Venture Projects in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “Yeah, definitely not easy. I came from a background where I was never even exposed to venture capital or working with investors. And it wasn’t until YC and meeting Michael that I really started learning how to get engaged, how to start talking to VCs and start raising capital. I got told no over 100 times before we got our first check.”

AOC already knows where Jay-Z’s and Jack Dorsey’s alliance will go, based on our own updated education of finance and credit trends last week. Stay tuned for part two. ~ Anne

Will Hulu 2022 Docuseries On 'The Rise and Fall of Victoria's Secret' Focus on Savage x Fenty?

With Rihanna’s major infusion of capital into Savage X Fenty, via L Catterton, a private equity firm connected to LVMH, many lingerie business enthusiasts and Wall Street believe that Rihanna has a serious opportunity to significantly reduce Victoria’s Secret further. Above: a Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Below: Savage X Fenty Fall 2020 fashion show.

In Six Years Victoria’s Secret Is A Shadow of Its Former Self

One simple set of statistics confirms the shocking demise of Victoria’s Secret as a global lingerie giant. In December 2020, Victoria’s Secret had just 19 percent market share in the U.S. women’s intimates apparel space, compared with 32 percent in 2015, according to The NPD Group’s consumer tracking service. WWD reminds us that the situation was worse in the spring of 2020, when the VS market share had fallen to 16 percent — half of its US market position in 2015.

Hulu Charts VS Rise and Fall

The lingerie brand that dominated the global market — and my alma mater for a decade — surely gasped learning this week that Hulu has a three-part docuseries in production. Focused on the rise and fall of Victorias Secret — the very brand they re trying to resusitate — the production will be directed by Matt Tyrnauer, former ‘Vanity Fair’ writer and director of the 2008 film ‘Valentino: The Last Emperor’.

VS in Rehab

The road to rehabilitation for Victoria’s Secret continues, as the brand plunges again into the swimwear business at slsect stores in America. VS swimwear returned online after a three-year hiatus from the category. WWD estimates that the decision cost the dwindling lingerie giant “roughly $525 million in annual sales.”

Launched post-Valentine’s Day Monday, the new swimwear campaign stars Imaan Hamman, Jill Kortleve, Paloma Elsesser and Taylor Hill. Alex White styles the St. Barts shoot, in film footage and images shot by Tyler Kohlhoff [IM]. / Makeup by Jen Myles; hair by Jawara

See the entire campaign Victoria's Secret Swim Spring 2021 Curvy Women | VS Finally Listens to RiRi

The ‘Destination Swim’ seaside campaign is receiving very positive reviews. Featuring two curvy beauties Paloma Elsesser and Jill Kortleve, the campaign is hailed for its body inclusivity.

Yahoo News is running a front page story detailing lots of positive consumer response like:

"I’m really happy to see you incorporating some curvy girls in your campaigns," one commenter responded to a shot of Elsesser modeling a coral bikini for the campaign, which also stars Imaan Hamaan and Taylor Hill. "Keep it up."

"I like this change," read one comment, while another follower added, "It's so good to see VS promoting all body types."

"Thank you for now having models of all body types!" a commenter wrote. "Living for this."

"It’s about tiiiiime!" gushed a fan. "Yeees curvy queen!"

"The first image here is making so many women comfortable in their skin," another commenter said of Elsesser's shoot. "Keep it up."

The swimwear will be sold in select Victoria’s Secret stores, and the 2021 Swim ‘Magalog

Even with a plum feature like the Yahoo News post, Victoria’s Secret is never far from its past. The article rehashes all the negative — but true and well-deserved criticism of Victoria’s Secret — stories about VS.

AOC wont drudge up these facts, as we all know them. Just as Biden is trying to wean us from Trump, AOC is looking forward for Victoria’s Secret, not backwards.

Besides, we are watching the crushing Victoria’s Secret obstacle coming down the road in the form of Savage X Fenty.

I’ve quipped multiple times that if VS isn’t careful, Ms. Robyn Rihanna Fenty, born in Saint Michael and raised in Birdgetown, Barbados — yes that Black island girl — is going to crush them. Still, I couldn’t imagine the possibility in terms of scale until writing this post a few days ago.

When LVMH and Rihanna announced in early February that they were putting Fenty — the designer clothing label — on pause, it was clear that Rihanna’s relationship with Bernard Arnault remained very solid.

AOC’s interest is the $115 million fundraising round for Savage X Fenty by L Catterton, a private equity firm connected to LVMH. We reported in December that the partnership both put swimwear brand Seafolly into administration in Australia in June 2020 and then bought it back again at an attractive price near year’s end. This new round of fundraising by L Catterton in Savage X Fenty resulted in Savage’s valuation exceeding $1 billion, wrote Fast Company.

Forbes also projects that Savage X Fenty is poised to overtake Victoria’s Secret by 2025 — which I find mind-boggling, frankly. Not that Rihanna can’t do it, but that she could do it in such short order.

So let’s just all agree that the swim campaign is great, but Victorias Secret has a treacherous road ahead. We don’t need some posse of ogling white dudes (especially Republican white dudes) telling us how to manage our sexuality. Riri leads the way, in our opinion. ~ Anne

AOC Archives

AOC Archives: Imaan Hammam, Jill Kortlieve, Palomma Elsesser, Taylor Hill,