gimletagain

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It works out better for Harry if they divorce while Charles is still king. At least Charles will make sure Harry has a home to live in. If Harry waits until William is king then Harry will likely end up homeless.

True. Good thing William is working on alleviating homelessness...

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A tearful Meghan claimed: "Not many people have asked if I’m okay.” This she said just feet from people whose average salary is $17,000 a year—the cost of her average outfit. The two then jetted off to Australia for another tour before announcing they were leaving England for good, first for Canada and then Los Angeles. 

But it wasn’t until the couple were safely ensconced in their $14 million California mansion, complete with a “down to basics” chicken coop, that they truly began to show themselves—two people who wanted money, and a lot of it, for minimal, if any, work. Not satisfied with his $10 million inheritance, or her $5 million nest egg, they wanted more. They were a duke and duchess and they deserved to live like kings. And they were willing to sell out his family at every turn to do so. 

Source:

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The numbers speak for themselves 

Again, the holy grail is repeat engagement. This is what Spotify pays for. Come to your own conclusions:

Joe Rogan deal: $200m+ over 3 years. (source: New York Times) —release frequency: more than 3 episodes a week. Total # of episodes on Spotify: 1,864.

call her daddy deal. $60m over 3 years. (Source: Variety) release frequency: once a week. Total # of episodes on Spotify: 115

Obamas: $25m rumored (Bloomberg). Limited run. Michelle’s # of episodes: 11. Bo’s # with Bruce Springsteen: 9. Deal was not renewed due to expectations of more content and creative differences. They eventually resigned with Amazon audible as first-look. (Meaning no cash upfront, Amazon will see what they come up with and offer an exclusive depending on content.)

Now, tell me whether or not they’re actually seeing that big payday based on their output? Spotify is paying for people who will sign up and come back on the platform every day. or at least every month. The content makers are the vehicle for that.

if you truly want to make your opinions heard, do not sign up if you don’t already have an account just to listen. Do not given them subsequent listens - coming back week after week is what will boost the numbers the most.

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Petty thoughts of the day

obviously, our duchess wasn’t invited to the Oscars or any of the parties - but what’s even more damning is notice how how none of her “””Hollywood””” friends are either? Abigail, Janina, etc are all squarely so C-list that they’re not even part of the after after parties. Abigail’s particularly hilarious bc she posted an old red carpet photo of herself the night before the Oscars, fronting like she’s potentially going.

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❤️❤️‍🔥

Rihanna. Fashionably late as always, but not as late as she was to the Met Gala. She looks adorable.

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So happy she was able to make sobriety work, she looks great.

CARA DELEVIGNES DRESS😍

GORG

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they weren’t. Part of why svb was so uniquely exposed to what happened to them was because they were heavily underrepresented in retail banking. Most of their clients were startups, not consumers. And anyone with more than $250k in cash assets typically diversifies and has their money spread out. Anyway, the Harkles have the typical gold plated private wealth management team that makes sure their money is protected and their personal money is fine.

I’ve predicted that BetterUp would go belly up within a year or two. This just accelerates it.

also this bodes terribly for both MM’s planned influencer career and her investment for her dumb latte drink, which is a terrible product you’d see get passed on by anyone who knows anything about good cpg investments. The economy is weakening significantly and consumers will not be spending on whatever goop lite products she wants to merch. Companies know this and are contracting their marketing spend, which is why google and meta have performed so poorly of late and are tightening significantly. Anyone who knows internet marketing knows that we are in pain right now and it’s getting worse. This is literally the worst time to launch a career as a major influencer for lifestyle products, just as bad as trying to be a globe trotting pseudo royal during Covid lockdowns. They’re a fascinating case of karmic timing, that’s for sure.

So the Fed has announced they're not bailing out SVB. They might help the smaller start-ups that do business with SVB, but by and large SVB is not getting a bailout. (Well, as of today, March 12th, they're not.)

Based on Yellen's remarks on the Sunday talk shows, it sounds like the Fed is only going to work with the smaller start-ups. I think the $250K deposit insurance policy the Fed has is going to be a big part of this.

Which means that thanks to Meghan's PR about the Sussexes' net worth from Netflix, Penguin, endorsement deals, and speaking fees, we know that they have way more than $250K in the bank. So if it's true that Harry's US money is in SVB, then he is screwed. I don't think anyone who lives at Montecito Mansion is capable of living on a $250K budget. Maybe the dogs.

And BetterUp is screwed now too. They have way too much profit to be considered a "small start-up" anymore and after the execs dumped their stocks on Friday, they're already under the microscope and close scrutiny.

So in other words, Meghan just markled BetterUp.

I saw the Yellen comments, and it's not looking good for anyone who was banking with SVB. I do think that BetterUp might be royally screwed, pun intended. But there is no way to know if the Harkles were using SVB for their personal banking needs as well.

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Thanks @emmashouldbewriting!! house of cards.

Your thoughts about the bottom falling out of Spare's sales figures on week 2? Will any overstock be returned to the publisher or are booksellers stuck with them?

I know next to zilch about the book business! @emmashouldbewriting can answer?

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Your thoughts about the bottom falling out of Spare's sales figures on week 2? Will any overstock be returned to the publisher or are booksellers stuck with them?

I know next to zilch about the book business! @emmashouldbewriting can answer?

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Before you pointed out th discrepancy I just assumed that archwell raised 13 mil, as in through their fundraising efforts eg, the vaccine equity thing and global citizen etc. And in addition to that, they themselves donated 3 mil.

I know it's a stretch, lol. But could it be as simple as that and that something is lost in translation when we read the article? It certainly is weird and unnecessary to be releasing this info now though. Last week of Jan is no way significant from a financial point of view.

No. $13m is the amount they have on the books at their foundation. There’s a trail for the $10m: they received a grant for it by an anonymous donor advised fund. Follow the link and search A—well. You’ll see the grant pop up.

The remaining $3m is probably the tax write off from their earnings, which is what setting up a private family foundation is good for.

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re: the elusive $10 million. Thanks for that explanation, Gimlet! So after people questioning the impact report all over social media and wondering what happened to the $10 million plus Scobie's twitter tantrum, Haz & Meg leaked via People just a few hours ago😂

"In 2021, the Archewell Foundation raised about $13 million and gave approximately $3 million in grants. PEOPLE understands that the remainder is being allocated for charitable grants in the years to come."

Meghan is really obsessed about reading about herself, isn't she?

https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-prince-harry-archewell-foundation-first-impact-report/

see? Preemptive CYA.

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gimlet, i need to know where you think the $10 million went. I'm assuming the hermes blanket fund but why would you ever release something like this

I think it’s interesting that they put out an impact report that’s light on real numbers in advance of the 990. (By interesting, I mean it’s a planned diversion from the scrutiny and criticism that even neutral charity watchdogs will call them out on. $13m in funds and they only gave $3m out? Bad, unless they are restricted grants made to be part of multi-year commitments or earmarked for things like capital campaigns, which makes no sense since they’re not building out any facilities.)

the $10m came from an anonymous donor via the Silicon Valley community foundation. If I had to guess it comes from Benioff. Multiple connection points, the most notable being one of the VCs backing BetterUp through Salesforce ventures. More pathetically he’s such a Hollywood starf*cker that he invites Matthew McConaughy and will.I.am to salesforce meetings. Activist investors are looking to start trimming the company. Good luck.

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oh, I’m sure they budgeted some money to make sure he gets to that million sales figure. Two of their 50 rooms at Casa Olive Garden are just self purchased copies of the Bench and the Spare.

It might take more than 2 rooms! Hope they've managed to get some home insurance - all that extra paper has got to be a fire hazard. 😂

Maybe Handyman Harry’s busy building a little dam for their house with the books.

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THIS. And I say this as a working mother.

Re: what is Catherine doing. She has surrounded herself with grandparents, aunts and uncles - some of which are NOT royal - and is working to raise her children to break the dysfunctional cycle of the RF. No drama. No toxic rivalry, no RPOs driving them to school. Hands on parenting with an extended family unit that is treating all three of her kids as equal and valuable outside the institution. Preparing one son for the monarchy and the other two with a rich life and individual pursuits like her own siblings have done while their oldest sister soon becomes queen. Since when is being a mother to young children growing up in the spotlight NOT a huge job in and of itself. If that’s all she does it’s enough.

Oh anon, we could have a long and separate conversation about how some women think that raising your own children isn't an acceptable contribution to society. That if you are not a working mother, you are somehow less worthy of occupying space on this planet. But that's a discussion for another day.

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What do you think of spare and everything going on? Where do Harry and Meghan go from here?

Spare is typical of their media cycle: they’re extraordinarily good at gulping up oxygen for a week before fizzing out

I don’t know if it’s the timing (I’m busy at work, parenting after the holidays, dealing with CA’s massive floods of late), or the fact that they’ve truly over saturated themselves with Netflix and the book within the span of a month, or something else, but I can’t even bring myself to check the blogs or subs that often for their shenanigans anymore.

As someone who has been side-eyeing her on tumblr since 2017 I think part of it has to do with the fact that there’s no shock factor any more, nor is there this feeling of needing validation that they’re both dumb thirsty idiots. They basically do go and cross every line you can think of pretty consistently - they lie, they do horrible things to their families, on and on. And yes while they’ll always continue to have their defenders, for the most part people here in the US largely see them for what they are, which are people desperate to stay in the spotlight and collect a paycheck. There are critical articles across every mainstream and niche publication now (even if most balance it out with equally sugar articles), but the fact is they exist. And the Reddit snark sub literally doubled in membership since December.

So yea. I kinda feel bored now that everyone else has caught on.

The other thing too is that I think we’re in for a rough ride this year. The economy is shaky - there are layoffs everywhere in tech and finance, and Putin is in a rage spiral. Heck in the US we are dealing with an egg shortage right now. I hope I’m wrong but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be smooth sailing for most of us, which makes them - lavishly rich, annoying ex royals trying to make a buck off their status - even more of an afterthought.

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oh, I’m sure they budgeted some money to make sure he gets to that million sales figure. Two of their 50 rooms at Casa Olive Garden are just self purchased copies of the Bench and the Spare.

Harry’s memoir “Spare” fell 105% in sales for its second week. This is stunning. Second week sales were just 195,000, according to NPD Book Scan. First week sales were 629,000.

Yikes. At this rate, he might not even sell a million books in the US aka his largest and most lucrative market by far.

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this.

also, repeat after me (and this line works on sympathetic friends in conversation well): William lost his mother, too.

“Yep. Some people need medication not therapy. By some people I mean Harry.”

Some people also need a swift kick up their backside from some courageous member of their family (if there are any)!!

Empress, I’m an Indian woman who has worked as a teacher in India in a govt. aided school for the lower income group of society. I’ve seen students who are unable to get even 2 square meals per day grit their teeth & study hard to come up in life. They do not complain, act normal, even when being gnawed by hunger yet too dignified to ask or accept charity. I’ve seen children of families living on the pavements of the streets huddling over to protect their books from the monsoon rains. Their first reaction is to immediately cover their school books with plastic sheets regarless of whether they are getting wet in the rain!

And when I see this brat’s constant whinning, I become so furious. I try to take a step back but some times it is impossible! 

The newspapers are also to blame to a certain extent. They take up his cribbing & whinning & blow it up as if these two spoilt brats are really suffering!

And the BRF also deserves what they are going through for spoiling and mollycoddling this brat from the get go & never disciplining him!

I hope one day Karma gives these two what these two really deserve!

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Trust me he has the same effect on me!