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In a historically unusual move, two of the world’s largest chipmakers, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), have reportedly cut a deal with the Trump administration to hand over 15% of their revenues from certain chip sales to the U.S. government. Heres what to know about the deal and how Nvidias and AMDs stock prices are reacting. What’s happened? Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that chipmaking giants Nvidia and AMD have struck a highly unusual deal with the U.S. government. According to the Financial Times, the deal will see Nvidia and AMD give up 15% of revenues from chip sales of two specific chips to China, the H20 chipset by Nvidia and the MI308 chipset by AMD. In return for the 15% revenue-sharing agreement, the U.S. government has approved export licenses for those chips to China. Without export licenses, which the U.S. had previously failed to grant the companies, Nvidia and AMD could not legally export their chips to the country. The Financial Times cited people familiar with the situation, including a U.S. official as the sources of the information. “We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets,” a Nvidia spokesperson told Fast Company when reached for comment. “While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide. America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership.” Fast Company has also reached out to AMD and the Commerce Department. The revenue-sharing agreement is an unusual one, as no other companies before now have ever agreed to share a portion of their revenue with the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses. The Trump administration has reportedly also not decided what the U.S. government will do with the proceeds it reaps from Nvidia and AMDs chip sales to China. A spokesperson for Nvidia did not deny the deal, with the company telling the Financial Times, We follow rules the US government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. What are the H20 and MI308 chips? Before the two chip giants made a revenue-sharing deal with the Trump administration, the H20 and MI308 chipsets had been waiting for months for export license approvals. The H20 chip by Nvidia and the MI308 chip by AMD were designed by the companies for the Chinese marketplace specifically, and within the constraints that the Biden administration had placed on exporting U.S. chips to China. But when Trump came into office earlier this year, his administration placed export controls on those chips over national security fears. Nvidia has previously disputed that its H20 chips could give Chinese industry a leg up in the AI race. Now, however, any supposed national security concerns are taking a back seat to profits, as the export licenses have now been granted after the revenue-sharing deal was agreed. That revenue-sharing agreement stands to see the U.S. government rake in billions as the chipmakers now have the go-ahead to sell to China. According to the Financial Times, one estimate noted that Nvidia could sell as much as $23 billion worth of its H20 chips to China in 2025 alone. How are Nvidia and AMD stock reacting? Obtaining export licenses for chips is usually considered a good thing by investors in any chipmaking company. However, after the Financial Times broke the news of the revenue sharing deal, shares of both Nvidia Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD) are down in premarket trading as of the time of this writing. NVDA shares are currently down about 0.71% and AMD shares are currently down about 1.6%. While these share price drops arent that large, any decline in a chipmakers stock price after winning an export license is pretty rare. This could suggest that investors are concerned that companies are ceding too much revenue to the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses, potentially harming their bottom lines. But just as likely is that investors arent entirely sure how to digest the news. The deal potentially sets a new precedent where companies that need export licenses now may need to start sharing their revenue directly with the U.S. government. Such a system is unheard of in free-market democracies.
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E-Commerce
Forget Cowboy Carter or the Eras tour, the hottest ticket this year is for your favorite podcast. Content creator tours sold nearly 500% more tickets this year compared to 2024, according to StubHub, with Alex Cooper’s “Unwell” tour, Crime Junkie’s podcast tour and Mel Robbins’ “Let Them” tour the highest in demand. With ticket prices at nearly 40% less than traditional live events on average, its easy to see why. Going to a live concert is only getting more expensive, with many concertgoers sucking up the eye-popping prices and price gouging on resale sites rather than deal with the potential FOMO. The average price of tickets sold across all live entertainment in 2024 was $159. The Taylor Swifts Eras tour cost fans an average of $1,088 per ticket in 2023, The New York Times reported. For the top six creator tours, it was just $99. Scheduling tour dates in locations often bypassed by mainstream artists, like Wyoming and Vermont, has also helped boost sales. During her own “Eras” tour, influencer Trisha Paytas paid visits to Tysons, Virginia and St. Louis, Missouri. Meanwhile, TikTok star Jake Shanes Therapuss cross-country tour stopped in places like Birmingham, Alabama and Athens, Georgia. When we look at state-level consumption, Illinois has emerged as the creator economy’s biggest fanbase, purchasing 20% more tickets than any other market, Adam Budelli, Partnerships & Business Development at StubHub told Fast Company. Texans are not only the largest single-state fanbase for female-hosted podcast content, but also show unique consumption patterns, with 7% more single-ticket buyers than California, despite having a smaller population. Thanks to the boom in video podcasts, what started as an audio-only experience enjoyed alone, now has more in common with your traditional chat show. Nearly three-quarters of podcast consumers watch their podcasts, compared with about a quarter who listen only. I think the biggest differentiator is that there are more opportunities for audiences who do attend to actually interact with the creators, creator economy expert Lindsey Gamble tells Fast Company. Because being able to tour and bring people out in real life shows that they actually have a community and relationship with their followers or subscribersenough where people are willing to dedicate their time and their dollars to see them in person. For creators, it can also be lucrative. As well as bringing in money through membership models and merch, with many podcasts typically over an hour long, a live show or tour is a natural extension of the existing format. We’re seeing fans who have built these deep, parasocial relationships with creators through podcasts and social media finally getting the chance to complete that connection in person, Gamble says. It’s different from a traditional concert where you’re watching a performance, where at creator events, fans feel like they’re hanging out with someone they already know intimately.
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E-Commerce
In a relentless pursuit of agility and efficiency, many organizations are aggressively flattening their hierarchies, effectively eliminating layers of middle management. This move to a flattened organizational structure is often inspired by the success of tech giants like Amazon and Google, with the goal of accelerating decision-making and streamlining operations. However, while automation can replace tasks, it cannot replicate the nuanced skills of strategy, vision, and decision-making that define true leadership. Even AI cannot replace the human element of leadership that drives innovation, inspires teams, and navigates complex strategic challenges. Our collective challenge, therefore, is to understand the unintended consequences of this organizational flattening and implement actionable strategies to ensure that we are not sacrificing our long-term leadership capacity for short-term gains. The good news is that with intentional effort and a rethinking of how experience is gained, you can still build a formidable bench of executive talent. Heres how: 1. STOP ERASING AND START REDEFINING YOUR MID-LEVEL EXPERIENCE The most significant leadership development challenges in flattened organizations stem from the absence of director-level readiness. Without mid-level roles, you might miss crucial opportunities to manage people, budgets, and complexity at scale. Think about the typical progression: from individual contributor to senior individual contributor, and then, traditionally, to manager. The manager role was where many learned the intricacies of people management, conducting performance reviews, navigating difficult conversations, and fostering team development. When organizations eliminate this stepping stone, employees can jump from senior individual contributor to director without ever developing these foundational skills. This creates a dangerous experience gap. To counter this, identify the core managerial and strategic skills that were learned in those now-eliminated roles and create alternative pathways to gain them. For instance, you could take on internal mini-CEO roles for specific projects, giving yourself full accountability for budget, team oversight, and strategic outcomes, even if for a temporary period. Even at an individual contributor level, you can seek out opportunities to lead specific initiatives or mentor newer team members to build these skills. 2. PRIORITIZE PROJECT-BASED LEADERSHIP AND EXECUTIVE SHADOWING In a flatter structure, traditional promotions are fewer, but opportunities for leadership experience arent. Empower yourself to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives. This is a powerful way for you to gain influence and exposure outside of your direct reporting lines, learning to navigate organizational politics, manage diverse stakeholders, and deliver results under pressure. Simultaneously, seek out executive shadowing opportunities. Ask if you can sit in on high-stakes meetings or strategic offsites. This direct access to senior thinking provides an unparalleled understanding of how decisions are made at the highest levels, building your confidence and presence. This real-time learning is invaluable when formal management layers are gone. 3. FORMALIZE MENTORSHIP, SPONSORSHIP, AND TARGETED CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT Leadership readiness will not emerge by default in a flat structure; it must be deliberately built. Establish formal mentorship programs where senior executives provide direct coaching and feedback. Even more critically, sponsorship programs should be implemented where senior leaders actively advocate for emerging talent, opening doors and creating opportunities for growth you might not find on your own. Beyond these relationships, create targeted development tracks with clear milestones that focus on specific capabilities required for future executive roles. For example, if critical thinking under pressure is a key executive skill, you might find that participating in leadership simulations or strategic case studies allows you to practice decision-making in a safe environment. This ensures that even without traditional promotions, you are continually acquiring and demonstrating executive-level skills. BUILDING A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS LEADERSHIP GROWTH In the absence of established leadership ladders, organizations must take deliberate, proactive steps to build their future leadership pipeline. This presents a unique opportunity, whether you’re just starting your career or are a seasoned executive, to define your impact by the comprehensive leadership development strategies you intentionally create. It also clearly communicates the new growth expectations for leadership within a flatter structure. If you lead an organization that has embraced flattening, you must recognize that designing meaningful development programs in this new landscape may be one of the most important contributions you make to your companys long-term success.
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E-Commerce
When it comes to turning a beloved toy into a box office hit, it’d be hard to top 2023s Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie. But Mattel veteran Robbie Brenner, who produced the nearly $1.5 billion-grossing film, has no interest in resting on her laurels. In June, the toy company launched Mattel Studios, bringing together its film and TV efforts under Brenner. At the studios president and chief content officer, Brenner now oversees more 15 projects in development, each with a unique twist. There’s a Hot Wheels movie helmed by Wicked director Jon M. Chu, a horror-skewing adaptation of Barney being written by The Bears Ayo Edebiri, and an adaptation of the He-man property Masters of the Universe. Most recently, Mattel announced that it’s working with Minions studio Illumination on an animated Barbie movie. I spoke to Brenner about how she chooses which intellectual property to develop into bigger projects, the importance of delivering both fan service and organic storytelling, and how she plans to replicate Barbies success with another toy franchise. You came to Mattel from Miramax seven years ago. When you first started at Mattel, how did you take stock of what properties you wanted to develop into bigger projects? Where else do you come in your life, aside from Disney, where you have endless titles that you and your kids grew up playing with? When I came into the company, there were like 200 brands, either from Mattel or from buying other libraries or buying other companies. I looked at each title and used my intuition, to say like, okay, that title, that brand, that sounds like that could be like a big theatrical experience. And so I whittled it down to some 40 titles. Those were my starting block for building out this film division. Barbie was the last movie that I ever thought we were gonna make. Everybody has a relationship with Barbie, and that makes it even harder to find a way into that story. For us it was really Gretas love and affinity for Barbie, and her voice, which is so unexpected and authentic. Thats the way were trying to approach all these moviesdoing things that feel like they have a reason to exist by working with these unique voices. Especially when were consumed by our phones, the only way to cut through that is to do something that feels wholly unique in an authentic way. To be able to open up my rolodex and pair the filmmakers and writers Ive worked with up with these brands has been so much fun. Did the success of Barbie change your approach to how you develop a project? You need a strong script and somebody that has the vision to tell the story in a way that feels different and interesting. That has always been a huge component of how we approach our IP. Were just keeping our heads down and trying to tell great stories. Barbie was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenonone could only hope to replicate that. But weve got Masters of the Universe coming out next year, and its the polar opposite to Barbie. Its this incredible spectacle that [director] Travis Knight has pulled off with the rich canon of characters and mythology. Itll be fun to show the world that we can do so many things. Similarly, [tk IP] Matchbox is a high-octane action movie, but it has so much heart. Im sure a lot of people will compare everything we do to Barbie. Not everything can be Barbie. We look at these brands individually and we treat them individually. Sometimes were going to make smaller movies that are just great stories that need to be told, and other times there will be just huge tentpole movies. I think as long as we continue to stick with our approach and vision, good things will come. Now that Mattels TV and film efforts are unified, has your approach changed? You mentioned Disney as having a similarly rich IP library. Do you take inspiration from their approach? Movies and TV, theatrical and streaming, theyre all very blurred lines right now. So I just look at it all holistically as contentshort form, premium, scriptedand I want to work with the same writers and directors that I have relationships with. Mattel Studios is about aligning under one banner and looking holistically about where a brand is better sittingas a television show or a movie. The philosophy is the same: telling great, unexpected stories with brave filmmakers. Over the next couple months, youll see a lot of movement on television. We have a lot of shows in negotiation right now with incredible creatives. Were all working together to maximize the evergreen properties we have to make sure that were franchising them in the best way so were not stepping on each other. Its more synergy and made a lot of sense for all of us to sit together and work together to maximize Mattels potential.
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E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. “CEO succession is the board’s No. 1 job, says leadership expert and Harvard Business School executive education fellow Bill George. “In my experience, across hundreds of companies, businesses rise or fall with decisions on CEO succession. Yet according to a new report by executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, only 26% of directors and CEOs say that chief executive transition is among their top priorities. Another 40% don’t consider it a priority at all. Tom Monahan, CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, says succession can get crowded out if boards get pulled into crises or are distracted by other issues. As a leader, you have days where you say, the most important thing today is do this, and you look up and [realize] I spent two hours on [my] coffee selection, he says. It turns out boards seem to have some of that as well.” And when they do turn to succession, too often directors are trying to figure out who could step into the role immediately in the event of an emergency, such as the unexpected death of a CEO. Instead, Monahan says boards should remember that CEO succession is a strategy exercise. “We do see more boards and leadership teams treating succession as a process, not a project, he says. If you look at companies where it’s a projectCEO says I’m retiring, board says it’s time to move, we kick into place a projectthat compresses a lot of important strategic activity into probably too narrow a timetable. The Berkshire Hathaway model Heidrick & Struggless “Route to the Top” report praises the CEO succession process at Berkshire Hathaway. CEO Warren Buffett earlier this year announced his plans to retire at the end of 2025. But Buffett, 94, had been talking about his replacement for more than a decade, and in 2021, the company anointed Greg Abel, who currently serves as chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and vice chairman of the conglomerates non-insurance businesses. In a time when CEO transitions often spark volatility or uncertainty, Berkshires process delivered confidence, continuity, and clarity to the market, the report concludes. CEO succession has become something of a parlor game in investor and media circles, especially at high-profile companies such as Apple and Disney. (Please check out my colleague David Lidskys surprising take on who should succeed Bob Iger at Disney.) The founder-CEO challenge Replacing founder-CEOs can be especially challenging because the entrepreneur is so personally tied to the company and can have a hard time letting go. A founder is also one of a companys largest shareholders and may feel compelled to step in when the company struggles. Michael Dell, for example, returned to the top job at his eponymous tech company in 2007 after the computer maker started to lose market share, among other issues. If you have a founder who has been able to conceptualize an idea and scale a company, thats a rare set of talents, and youre not going to be able to replicate that, Monahan says. Monahan encourages boards to make clear which committee will be responsible for succession planning and then to make sure the topic is on the agenda. He says boards should have a process for meeting with executives in the C-suite, as those leaders are candidates to take over for the sitting CEO. And directors need to constantly assess the link between leadership and strategy to make sure theyre looking at candidates who can support the business in the future. And what is the role of the sitting CEO? CEOs should play an active role in training their successors, but don’t groom people in your own image, cautions George, who has served on the boards of Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, Target, Novartis, Mayo Clinic, and Medtronic, where he was CEO for 10 years. Figure out what [the company] is going to need for the next 10 years, and find people with the mental agility and courage to look at it differently than you looked at it. What is your succession plan? CEOs, do you have a successor in placeand if not, whats holding you back from naming an heir apparent? Send your feedback to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Ill publish your responses in a future newsletter. Read more: CEO succession Who will be Tim Cooks successor? This founder was miserable as CEO, so she brought in a replacement How entrepreneurs should handle succession
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E-Commerce
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