Girls Are Loaded

Net Worthy: Jury Betting, Selma Blair’s $20K Bail, Bumble Going Private & Oura’s IPO

Back with another Net Worthy, our slightly less researched, slightly more reactive tour through the week’s financial, economic, Bravo, tech, pop culture, and generally bizarre headlines. This week, Annie and Zoë get into people betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on jury verdicts, Selma Blair paying $20,000 bail by credit card after another plane incident, Peacock building a TikTok-style Bravoverse hosted by an AI Andy Cohen, and Samantha Parkington losing her American Girl fortune. Plus, Girls is coming back, the McBee marriage may not be, and Netflix somehow scored exclusive 2030 World Cup rights in Spain. Then, the business group chat gets busy. Disney+ is streaming the Super Bowl as the streaming industry slowly rebuilds cable one subscription at a time, Bumble is going private for $1.3 billion after losing users and roughly $13 billion in market value since its IPO, and Oura postpones a much-hyped public offering where 73% of the shares being sold belonged to existing shareholders. The girls get into swiping fatigue, whether dating apps can ever satisfy investors when their stated goal is getting you off the app, and what happens when everyone who wants an Oura Ring already owns one. Plus, TikTok is accused of giving teens placebo safety features to test whether protection hurt engagement, nearly $22 million in taxpayer-funded Trump political ads lands in court, and Annie and Zoë continue asking the only question that really matters: who is making money off this? Girls Are Loaded — new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack at @girlsareloaded. Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com.

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The Business of the Dubrow Party Economy & Recession Fashion

This week, Annie and Zoë kick things off with linguistic pet peeves, Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper, age-gap relationships, vampire media as a recession indicator, and Singapore launching a government-sponsored dating app, totally awesome and normal! Zoë gets into Heather and Terry Dubrow’s money, from plastic surgery and reality TV to luxury real estate and the insane price tags of Heather Dubrow’s Bravo parties. We’re talking $75,000 events, $140,000 birthdays, and the small army of florists, planners, caterers, performers, and random experiential vendors required to keep Fancy Pants fancy. Annie looks at recession couture: the Lipstick Index, the Hemline Index, ’70s fashion coming back around and the cultural crossovers with today, maximalism, archival dressing, the booming luxury resale market, and whether buying a Birkin is technically investing. RHOM one season wonder Stephanie Shojaee may have had a point. Girls Are Loaded — new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack at @girlsareloaded. Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com.

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Net Worthy: Meredith Mark's Face Lift, the Billionaire Tax, Meta's AI, and McDonald's GLP-1 Menu

Welcome to Net Worthy: our slightly less researched, slightly more reactive foray into the week’s financial, economic, Bravo, and tech headlines. This week, Annie and Zoë get into Meredith Marks’ very face-lift-forward presence on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, the Federal Reserve, why the Fed is independent-ish from the government, and the century of financial panic that somehow got us here. Zoë also explains why long-term Treasury bonds just had their worst decade since the Great Depression, why rising interest rates were so brutal for existing bondholders, and why those same higher yields might suddenly make bonds attractive again. Then, the girls run through the rest of the week’s economic group chat — California billionaires spending millions to fight a billionaire tax, McDonald’s developing menu options for the GLP-1 economy, and Meta’s new AI agent discovering that Americans are paying $157 a month for subscriptions they forgot existed. Plus, what happens to banks when AI agents can automatically move your money into higher-yield accounts, whether the subscription economy should be afraid of your robot personal assistant, and other headlines we unfortunately now have opinions about. Girls Are Loaded — new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack at @girlsareloaded. Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com.

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The Business of Brandi Glanville’s Parasite & the AI Apocalypse

This week, Annie and Zoë kick things off with recession indicators, from whether bringing an iced coffee to a job interview is acceptable to the Fed raising interest rates, plus Zoë’s trip to Greece and Annie’s unwavering commitment to eating leftovers even when foodborne illness becomes a legitimate possibility. Then, Annie dives into the ongoing medical and financial mystery of Brandi Glanville. After years of mysterious symptoms, more than 20 doctors, mounting medical bills, lost Bravo income, and an alleged parasite, Brandi has turned to GoFundMe to help pay for treatment. Annie breaks down the winding timeline of Brandi’s health issues, her Bravo fallout, and where her money may have gone. Plus, Zoë investigates the increasingly ominous warnings coming from inside the AI industry. If the people building the world’s most powerful AI systems are publicly warning that things could go very, very wrong, why are they still racing to build them? The girls get into frontier labs, the business incentives and balance sheets behind the AI arms race, and why the people warning us about the AI apocalypse are the same people creating it. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack at @girlsareloaded ! Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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Resting B*tch Fund: Danny Booko and the End Times Economy

It's another special Resting B*tch Fund episode! This week in our pre-recorded series, Annie and Zoë dive right in to their long-form investigation of The Valley's very own antichrist, Danny Booko and his family's megachurch legacy. Annie kicks us off with an in-depth look at Danny's fourth (or more!) generation family of pastors, the history of Armageddon-fever that runs deep within his veins, and some implications of investing financially in a religious practice that has an expiration date (if you're rapture-lucky). Then Zoë takes the torch and grounds us in some serious stats surrounding megachurch finances, the ambiguity of the Booko's Riverside Church spending, and the End Times economic ecosystem. Apparently, you can have a bank account in heaven. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack at @girlsareloaded ! Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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Resting B*tch Fund: Amanda Frances, Money Manifestation, and Being Rich as F*ck

Join us for our first Resting Bitch Fund (RBF): a special pre-recorded episode, while one of us rests (titular) where Annie and Zoë collab deep dive on one topic that touches both pop culture, Bravo, finances, and the economy. This week, Annie and Zoë kick things off with recession indicators, from Rupert Grint joining the Harry Potter staged play universe to uncovering the potential market justifications for Callaway Golf's recent and infamous commercial... Then, Annie and Zoë launch into this week's special episode, deep diving on a singular topic that is financially relevant through a — you guessed it — Bravo lens. This week, the girls are book-clubbing about former Beverly Hills Housewife, Amanda Frances, and her Money Manifestation manual: Rich As F*ck: More Money Than You Know What to do With. Annie and Zoë break down Amanda's professional background, qualifications (or lack thereof), self- promotional and referential echo chambers, her Housewife come-up, and what it means to sell something immaterial or abstract, like willing money into your life through the power of positive thinking. Does it work? Is it a con? What's the verdict? Let's find out together! Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @girlsareloaded ! Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of Jen Shah’s Fraud Empire & El Niños Economic Injury

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week's recession indicators, from Bristol Farms coupon deals, to data-informed dynamic pricing for salary offers, the necessity of negotiating prowess, and CEOs making more money then ever before! Plus, Annie's paranoia that grocery stores are out to get her. Then, they head out of prison and back to Salt Lake City, UT, for a look at Jen Shah's Fraud Empire, unpacking details about the crimes that led to her conviction and the consequences of being the self-proclaimed Wizard of Oz of a predatory (and illegal) business. The girls then take a hard look at the ways in which a Godzilla El Niño has, and will continue to affect the many stages of a globalized economy and ask: who are most likely to bear the brunt of natural disaster? Follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @girlsareloaded Email us at girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of Southern Inhospitality & the Boyfriend Tax

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week’s recession indicators, from Walmart’s falling shares to yearning for 2008, calling businesses to complain, and the Callaway Golf commercial controversy. Then, they head to Charleston for some Southern Inhospitality and unpack the business behind Leva Bonaparte’s Bravo empire and pending wage lawsuits before asking a more existential financial question: what happens when women’s earning power advances faster than the economics of heterosexual relationships? From the motherhood penalty and unpaid labor to breadwinner resentment, divorce, and retirement, just how expensive can having a man actually be? Follow us! @girlsareloaded on Instagram and TikTok Email us! girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of the McBee Dynasty & the Los Angeles Lakers Sale

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week’s recession indicators, the haunting of Kaia Gerber, and Elle on Amazon Prime before diving into the bizarre finances of The McBee Dynasty. Do they have money or is it tens of millions in debt, cross-collateralized businesses, lawsuits, and a federal crop insurance fraud case? Then, they unpack the $12.5 billion Lakers sale to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, why billionaires and private equity are racing to buy sports teams, and what happens when your favorite franchise becomes less of a team and more of an investment asset. Follow us! @girlsareloaded on Instagram and TikTok Email us! girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of Bravo Scandal Losers & Meta’s Intentions

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week’s recession indicators, including the Gen Z stare, tipping fatigue, and what July’s jobs report says about women leaving the workforce. Then they get into one of Bravo’s most reliable economic systems: scandal. In the Bravoverse, being the victim of a public implosion can be incredibly lucrative, while becoming the villain can cost you brand deals, businesses, television income, and sometimes your entire financial trajectory. Plus, Meta’s latest attempt to convince us that AI glasses are inevitable, what happened to the billions poured into the metaverse, and whether we should believe Meta when it says its “intentions” have never changed. Follow us! @girlsareloaded on Instagram and TikTok Email us! girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of Bethenny Frankel’s Reality Reckoning & the Advertising Authenticity Paradox

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week’s recession indicators and a quick debrief on House of Stassi before diving into Bethenny Frankel’s ill-fated Reality Reckoning. Was Bethenny actually right? They break down the strange economics of reality television: what Housewives really get paid, why they don’t receive residuals, and the infamous “Bethenny Clause." Then, they take the same question to the influencer economy. Brands are spending billions trying to buy the thing that made creators valuable in the first place: authenticity. Can something still feel authentic once it has been optimized to sell you something? And if audiences are already getting tired of the performance, how long can the authenticity economy actually last? Follow us! @girlsareloaded on Instagram and TikTok Email us! girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com

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The Business of Housewives Divorces & Pretty Privilege

Annie and Zoë kick things off with this week’s recession indicators before diving into the economics of The Real Housewives. They break down the biggest winners and losers of Housewives divorces, speculate about what a Whitney Rose or Angie Katsanevas divorce could look like financially, and ask whether beauty should actually count as an asset. Does pretty privilege pay, and does it pay well? Is Botox a luxury or a line item? And at what point does maintaining your appearance become a financial strategy? Follow us! @girlsareloaded on Instagram and TikTok Email us! girlsareloadedpod@gmail.com