Good morning! Poppi could get acquired, surveillance tech monitors women in Iran, and Gwyneth Paltrow takes Goop into its next era. Have a mindful Monday.
– Next chapter. Gwyneth Paltrow founded Goop nearly 20 years ago—which means Goop is almost a “heritage brand” in an increasingly crowded marketplace of lifestyle competitors, Paltrow tells me in a new interview.
The actor-turned-founder called me last week for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of Goop, leading through layoffs, and how she’s grown as a founder over the past decade-plus. Talking to Paltrow, it’s immediately clear that she’s a real-deal founder. She speaks the language fluently, from how she decided which categories to exit and which to focus on (some Goop had experimented with, like sexual wellness, saw low lifetime value); to deciding to do layoffs (a “difficult” but “necessary” choice to put payroll costs back into growth); to her advice to new founders (it’s about ESPs and QuickBooks).
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11: Gwyneth Paltrow speaks at Forbes Power Women’s Summit 2024 on September 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
Paltrow credits a close-knit group chat of female founders and CEOs with helping her grow as a leader. “It’s sort of like Fight Club,” she jokes. “We’re not really supposed to talk about it.”
And Goop is also growing. Despite the headlines around its 2024 restructuring, I report that revenue grew 10% between 2023 and 2024, with growth across the three categories Goop is now focused on: beauty, its G. Label fashion line, and its Los Angeles-based takeout chain Goop Kitchen.
As Goop enters this next chapter, Paltrow says profitability is coming and that she’s not interested in selling for at least three more years.
“It’s amazing to me we’ve been around this long,” she says. “We want to energetically own who we are and what we’ve accomplished—continue to innovate and accept our place in the landscape and lean into it.”
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US tech group Oracle on Monday said it plans to invest $5 billion in the UK over the next five years to meet “rapidly growing demand” for cloud services helping drive artificial intelligence.
“The investment will expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s footprint in the UK and help the UK government deliver on its vision for AI innovation and adoption,” Oracle added in a statement.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to ease red tape to attract billions of pounds of investment to help make Britain an “AI superpower”.
Oracle’s founder, Larry Ellison, is a close ally of US President Donald Trump, with whom Starmer is hoping to strike a post-Brexit trade deal.
“By working with global tech leaders like Oracle, we’re cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of the AI revolution,” Britain’s technology minister Peter Kyle said in the joint statement.
Britain currently has the third-largest AI industry after the United States and China.
Starmer’s administration has estimated that AI could be worth £47 billion ($61 billion) to the UK each year over a decade.
The government had already announced that three tech companies — Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl — would commit to spending £14 billion on AI in the UK, leading to the creation of more than 13,000 jobs.
However, there are concerns that sector-wide implementation of AI could result in job losses as the technology replaces tasks carried out by humans.
The UK is seeking clarification on the application of copyright law to AI, which it says aims to protect the creative industry despite widespread concern among artists.