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Taylor Swift is an economic force all on her own. The superstars relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce brought not only eyeballs to his games but a monetary boost to the city overall. Thanks to her Eras tour, Swifties spent an estimated $5 billion across the country. And most recently, she spurred fans to give more than $2 million in donations to the Monterey Bay Aquariums sea otter programjust by wearing an old t-shirt. Earlier this month, Swift launched her The Official Release Party of a Showgirl movie, an 89-minute film tied to the release of her latest album. It was only shown in theaters for three days. Eagle-eyed fans noticed how, in that film, Swift wore a 1993 Monterey Bay Aquarium t-shirt featuring an illustration of sea otters. And swiftly, social media lit up with requests for us to bring it back, Liz MacDonald, Monterey Bay Aquarium director of content strategy, said via email. The Aquarium quickly realized this moment could be huge. It was an opportunity to elevate our Sea Otter Program to a global audience and engage new supporters in our conservation work in a big and fun way, MacDonald says. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liberty Graphics Nature T-shirts (@libertygraphicstees) Long story shirt Aquarium staff got to work building a donation campaign about the t-shirt. They tracked down the original artwork from the 1990s, first printed by Harborside Graphics. That company has since become a part of Liberty Graphics, an employee-owned cooperative, and the aquarium worked directly with Liberty to re-issue the design. The campaign came together in about a week, offering the t-shirt for $65.13 (a nod to Swift’s favorite number, 13). In just seven hours, the aquarium hit its goal of raising $1.3 million. The re-issue of the sea otter shirt has since raised more than $2.3 million for the aquariums sea otter program, which has rescued, rehabilitated, and returned threatened southern sea otter pups to the wild for more than 40 years. The campaign was launched on Tiltify, an online fundraising platform that uses social media sites like Twitch and TikTok to foster virtual donations. Tiltifys flexibility and online experience (it has hosted campaigns for YouTube stars MrBeast and Jacksepticeye that brought donations in the double-digit millions in just hours) helped the aquarium respond to the viral moment, CEO Michael Wasserman says in a statement. When Swifties mobilized, we processed tens of thousands of orders . . . Most traditional donation platforms would crash handling 20,000 shirt orders in hours, plus 13,000+ backorders before the campaign had to pause for fulfillment, Wasserman said. This is the difference between modern giving and traditional fundraisingit’s interactive, social, and immediate. Even before the Tiltify campaign, Monterey Bay staff had noticed a bump of $13 donations coming in after Swifts movie. But the t-shirt campaign went beyond what staff could have expected. The outpouring of love for the Aquarium is honestly touching, MacDonald says, adding that she hopes the increased attention will draw even more people to the cause of helping sea otters. “We had a Taylor Swift dance party in the office when we hit our initial goal.”
Category:
E-Commerce
OpenAI has released a new web browser, the companys latest bid to become consumers chief gateway to the web. The new browser, called ChatGPT Atlas, will initially be available on macOS on the desktop. Versions for Windows, iOS, and Android are coming soon, OpenAI says. OpenAI worked hard to build as many AI-driven features into Atlas as possible. For example, Atlas learns the users browsing history and, in some cases, can make content suggestions proactively. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggested that this first version of the browser is just the start, pledging to add way more stuff that we will tell you about later and adding that the company can take this pretty far. The browser also integrates an AI agent, which can perform certain tasks for the users, such as filling out web forms and booking reservations. These things can happen in the background while the user does other things on the web. This, OpenAI says, may cut down on the number of browser tabs that users must currently wade through. However, agent mode is only available to OpenAIs paying Plus and Pro subscribers. The Atlas browser isnt the only AI-first product out therePerplexity, for instance, launched its Comet browser earlier this year. But Atlas may pose a serious threat to Googles dominant Chrome browser, which plays a central role in the companys advertising business model. OpenAI announced the new browser via a livestream on Tuesday. We think AI presents a rare once-in-a-decade opportunity to rethink what a browser can be about, Altman said at the beginning of the stream.
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E-Commerce
The Coca-Cola Co. said sales of premium beverages and mini cans helped boost its third-quarter results despite tepid demand in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Atlanta beverage giant said Tuesday it continues to see a divergence among consumers in North America and Europe, with higher-income buyers opting for its more expensive brands like Smartwater, Topo Chico, and Fairlife, while middle- and lower-income consumers are under more pressure. Henrique Braun, Coke’s chief operating officer, said the company has focused on affordability by shrinking package sizes and leaning into sales of mini cans. Earlier this month, Coke announced it will sell individual, 7.5-ounce mini cans for the first time at North American convenience stores starting Jan. 1. The mini cans have a suggested retail price of $1.29. We’re pivoting accordingly. We know that the consumer landscape has not changed, Braun said during a conference call with investors. Coca-Cola said its organic revenue rose 6% to $12.41 billion in the July-September period. That was in line with what Wall Street expected, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Unit case volumes were up 1% worldwide, reversing a 1% slide in the second quarter. Case volumes were flat in North America and Latin America and down 1% in Asia. But they rose 4% in the companys Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Coke said prices grew 6% in the quarter, partly due to the mix of beverages sold. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was a standout in the third quarter, with unit case volumes up 14% globally, while Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light sales grew 2%. Case volumes for water, sports drinks, coffee and tea rose 3%, while dairy and juice volumes fell 3%. The companys net income jumped 30% to $3.69 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, Coke earned 82 cents per share. That was also higher than the 78 cents analysts forecast. Coca-Cola reiterated its full-year financial guidance, including organic revenue growth of 5% to 6% and adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 3%. Coke also said it continues to expect the impact of tariffs to be manageable. Coca-Cola shares rose 3.5% in morning trading Tuesday. Coca-Cola also said Tuesday it is refranchising its bottling operations in Africa. Coke and Gutsche Family Investments, a private South African company, have agreed to sell a 75% controlling interested in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola HBC AG, a major bottler for the company based in Switzerland. The deal is worth $2.55 billion. Coca-Cola will retain a 25% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. The transactions are expected to close by the end of 2026. Coca-Cola Beverages Africa is the largest bottler on the continent, operating in 14 countries and accounting for 40% of Cokes product volume in Africa. Coca-Cola HBC operates in 29 countries in Europe and Africa, including Nigeria and Egypt. Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey said Tuesday that the deal in Africa and a similar transaction in India in July were the last two big pieces of a bottler refranchising plan that Coke set in motion a decade ago. Quincey said the strategy helps Coke focus more on brand building and innovation while bottlers can invest in the manufacturing system. The bottler performs better and it helps us drive overall growth for the total system, so that the combination grows faster and is more profitable, Quincey said. Rival PepsiCo is under some pressure from an activist investor, Elliott Investment Management, to refranchise its bottling operations in North America. Dee-Ann Durbin, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
Robert Redfords legacy and mission were always going to be a key component of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which will be the last of its kind in Park City, Utah. But in the wake of his death in Septemberat age 89, those ideas took on a new significance. This January, the institute that Redford founded over 40 years ago, plans to honor his career and impact with and a screening of his first truly independent film, the 1969 sports drama Downhill Racer, and a series of legacy screenings of restored Sundance gems from Little Miss Sunshine to House Party, festival organizers said Tuesday. As we were thinking about how best to honor Mr. Redfords legacy, its not only carrying forward this notion of everyone has a story but its also getting together in a movie theater and watching a film that really embodies that independent spirit, festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. Weve had some incredible artists reach out to us, even in the past few weeks since Mr. Redfords passing, who just want to be part of this years festival. Archival screenings will include Saw, Mysterious Skin, House Party, and Humpday as well as the 35th anniversary of Barbara Kopples documentary American Dream, and 20th anniversaries of Half Nelson and Little Miss Sunshine, with some of the filmmakers expected to attend as well. Over the almost 30 years of Sundance Institutes collaboration with our partner, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, weve not only worked to ensure that the Festivals legacy endures through film preservation, but weve seen that output feed an astonishing resurgence of repertory cinema programming across the country, said festival programmer John Nein. The films weve preserved and the newly restored films screening at this years festival, including some big anniversaries, are an important way to keep the independent stories from years past alive in our culture today. Tickets for the 2026 festival, which runs from Jan. 22 through Feb. 1, go on sale Wednesday at noon Eastern, with online and in person options. Some planning is also already underway for the festivals new home in Boulder, Colorado, in 2027, but programmers are heads down figuring out the slate of world premieres for January. Those will be revealed in December. Theres a lot more to come and a lot more to announce, Hernandez said. This is just laying a foundation. Redford’s death has added a poignancy to everything. Seeing and hearing the remembrances took me back to why I felt compelled to go to the festival in the first place, Hernandez said. Its been very grounding and clarifying and for us as a team its been very emotional and moving. But its also been an opportunity to remind ourselves what Mr. Redford has given to us, to our lives, to our industry, to Utah. Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
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E-Commerce
JPMorgan Chase unveiled its new 60-story headquarters to the public on Monday, one of the first major office buildings to be constructed after the COVID-19 pandemic and one that will remake the New York City skyline for decades. The bronze and steel tower at 270 Park, which reportedly cost $3 billion, replaced the Union Carbide Building, which sat on a full city block at 48th Street and Park Avenue for nearly 60 years. JPMorgan expects to house roughly 10,000 of its 24,000 New York-based employees in the new building, with employees starting their first workday at the tower at the same time as the company holds its ribbon cutting ceremony. For 225 years, JPMorgan Chase has always been deeply rooted in New York City. The opening of our new global headquarters is not only a significant investment in New York, but also testament to our commitment to our clients and employees worldwide, said Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, in a statement. The building contains 2.5 million square feet and a blocks worth of public space. The bank also commissioned five new artworks for the building, adding to the banks already substantial art collection. The bank will house its trading operations in the building across eight floors. At 1,388 feet, the new building is taller than the Empire State Buildings roofline and is now the fourth-largest building in Manhattan. The building was a major engineering and architectural undertaking by Norman Foster, the buildings lead architect and Tishman Speyer. Engineers had to systematically demolish the old Union Carbide building over a period of two years the site sits above the rails of the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road that run underneath Park Avenue. For years, JPMorgan has worked out of several buildings around Grand Central Station, a result of the banks growth and acquisitions over the years. Corporate execs and investment bankers still use 383 Madison Ave, the former headquarters of Bear Stearns, and 277 Park, which housed Chemical Bank, also a predecessor of the current JPMorgan Chase. Parts of JPMorgan started using 270 Park in the mid-1990s, but the bank always struggled to fit all its operations in the building. With 270 Park finished, the bank says it will now start a renovation of 383 Madison. The completion of 270 Park is a major accomplishment for Dimon, who has been one of loudest voices about the need for employees to report to an office for work. The building was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic and was completed after the pandemic, when remote work became more common. Ken Sweet, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
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