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In Influential News: January 2022
In Influential News is where I curate and highlight the influential and interesting news that has been catching my attention. These articles may be related to influence, branding, business, social media, pop culture, lifestyle, and any other relevant topics you need to know to create and live your own influential life.
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Influencers & The Creator Economy
- MrBeast Ranks as Highest-Paid YouTube Star Ever, Earning an Estimated $54 Million in 2021
- TikTok Creator Christina “Tinx” Najjar Signs With WME
- Creator startup Jellysmack to spend $500 million on old YouTube videos
- Triller’s Suit Against Podcasters Over “Troll” Reviews Tossed by Judge
If you haven’t heard about the legal battles between Triller & H3H3 Productions, it is fascinating and playing out very publicly. Pop culture legal commentator Emily D. Baker has done an amazing job covering this (and if you haven’t heard my Beyond Influential episode with Emily, check it out here). - The Misery of the Hype House
- Influencers pick their favorite creator economy startups
Entrepreneurship & Business
- Bob Iger Makes His Disney Exit as a Titan of Transformation
(And if you haven’t read Bob Iger’s book, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, you should. It’s a top business read that I included in my Must Read Business Books for Entrepreneurs in 2022.) - Microsoft will buy Activision Blizzard, betting $70 billion on the future of games.
- Who Do Young Entrepreneurs Look Up To? Elon Musk
- Mark Cuban on his online pharmacy: ‘Our KPI is how much we can reduce the stress of our patients
- Yeti’s Billion-Dollar Strategy: No Celebrities, No Pandering
- Michelle Pfeiffer On the Never-Ending Launch of Running a Business: ‘I Kept Waiting for It To End, and I Finally Realized — Well, It’s Never Going To!
- Dwayne Johnson is breaking all records with his new booze brand
Social Media Platforms
- Pinterest: Why Men Plan to Spend More in 2022
- Instagram Begins Rolling Out 3 Feed Options, Including Chronological
- Instagram Launches Subscriptions to Help Creators Earn Recurring Monthly Income (now officially testing with a small group in the US)
- YouTube To Phase Out Most Originals, Double Down On Creator-Generated Content
- Letter from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: Our 2022 Priorities
Influential Celebrity & Personal Brands
Here are some great in-depth articles and interviews written recently about celebrities who have turned their personal brands into empires and have become known (and taken seriously) outside the space they first became famous for.
- How Ryan Reynolds Built a Business Empire
- Brené Brown’s Empire of Emotion
- Dwayne Johnson Lets Down His Guard
- Kim Kardashian West on What Comes Next
- Will Ferrell Just Wants to Entertain You (and Himself)
- Jennifer Lopez to Dwayne Johnson: Hollywood’s Next Billion-Dollar-Brand Builders
Lasting Legacies
- What made Betty White the most beloved TV star of her (or maybe any) generation
- Thierry Mugler’s Everlasting Impact On Fashion: His Life And Designs
- Influential pioneer fashion journalist André Leon Talley dies at 73
- The Sublime Beauty of My Friend Bob Saget’s Filthy Comedy, by Penn Jillette