Billion dollar deals week
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: a pop star makes a deal, a model makes a sale, and Lindsay Lohan makes a bold statement.
Last night, Taylor Swift was photographed walking into Via Carota flanked by her security detail. This was news, as fans previously thought she was in Florida helping Travis Kelce get ready for his last football season. (The couple is getting engaged any day now, claims the Daily Mail.) The real news, however, came this morning: Swift announced that after years of back-and-forth, she has finally purchased her masters from Shamrock Capital, the investment firm that bought them from her nemesis Scooter Braun back in 2020.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she wrote in a letter to her fans that she posted on her website.
Swift did not disclose how much she paid for the rights to her first six albums, but we know that Braun acquired Swift’s former label Big Machine for $300 million in 2019, and that Shamrock bought Swift’s catalog for more than that in 2020. The New York Post says Swift paid somewhere between $600 million and $1 billion, but a source close to Swift (Tree Paine) told the Los Angeles Times that those figures are “highly inaccurate.” Whatever the price, Swift can afford it: the Eras Tour alone grossed over $2 billion.
The Post also claims that Braun “encouraged” the deal between Shamrock and Swift, but the Times’ source (Paine again) disputes that characterization. “All rightful credit for this opportunity should go to the partners at Shamrock Capital and Taylor’s Nashville-based management team only,” the source said. “Taylor now owns all of her music, and this moment finally happened in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him.”
So there. When asked about the deal today, Braun told Page Six in a statement, “I am happy for her.”
Braun may be happier about another billion dollar deal that closed this week, however. Justin Bieber, who allegedly owes Braun $8 million in commissions, may have more cash flow now that his wife Hailey Bieber has sold Rhode, the skincare and makeup line she launched just three years ago.
After hinting at the prospect in a Vogue cover story last week, Hailey announced yesterday that e.l.f. Beauty is acquiring Rhode. According to reports, e.l.f. paid $800 million in cash and stock, and there is an opportunity for another $200 million payout based on the growth of the brand in the next three years. Hailey is staying on as Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation at Rhode.
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To celebrate the acquisition, Hailey has been posting some nonchalant TikToks. Her husband, meanwhile, reposted her announcement of the sale with no caption. Given how his Vogue cover post went over, I think that’s for the best.
All this girlboss talk inspired me to check in on my favorite Female Founder Meghan Markle Sussex. In a new interview with Fast Company, the entrepreneur revealed “what’s next” for As Ever, the line of jams and flower sprinkles she launched, after many delays, back in April. These lines from the story made me scream:
“Meghan says that even though the team spent a year preparing the line and forecasting demand, all the products on the site sold out in 45 minutes. Now, they’re trying to plan As Ever’s next phase.
The easiest thing to do would have been to endlessly restock the popular products, which would likely sell out very quickly again. But while the As Ever team has hinted online that the items will be back on sale soon, Meghan also wants to take a step back, gather data from the launch, and figure out exactly what As Ever could be. She says she’s planning to announce new products in the first quarter of 2026.”
Meghan! This is the opposite of a growth mindset. Just restock the products! How much more ideating can one woman do?
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: A little reminder from Hilary Duff:
Finally, I will leave you with the news that despite all evidence to the contrary, Lindsay Lohan did not have a face lift:
It’s just lemon juice and Botox, she told Elle this week. So that settles it.
Thanks so much for opening this email. And thank you especially to paid subscribers! Your contributions keep this operation running, and I love you.
Okay Lindsay Lohan did not get a facelift?! I can’t with these celebs and their denials. I am still spinning over how ari did a lie detector YouTube interview about how she didn’t get any surgery done, only Botox. Could it be true?! I don’t know and I just want to know!!!
Also love your commentary on Meghan. Like haha why is she still ideating! I guess that’s her real brand, girl who is always thinking of making things better - yearning girl.
I want the lemons Lilo has, because the lemons I have access to don’t hit the same.