By BRAD TUTTLE  August 26, 2019

Store closures have been perhaps the biggest theme in retail in 2019. The so-called “retail apocalypse” has been ruthless this year, with 7,888 store closures in the U.S. announced so far, according to Coresight Research, compared to roughly 5,500 closures for all of 2018.

But while there are certainly some big losers in the 2019 retail apocalypse — most obviously, stores going completely out of business, like Payless Shoes, Dressbarn, and Claire’s — there are also some major traditional stores that are positively thriving right now. (READ MORE)

By Alex Wilhelmalex

 

Morning Markets: Let’s talk about nailing down what a “startup” is in the unicorn era.

If you had to write down a definition of the word “startup,” how long would it take you with a pencil until you were content with the description? A minute or two, I’d reckon.

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But if we completed the same exercise with, say, a half-dozen people and then compared answers, I doubt that we’d have many agreements. The definition of a startup is not really agreed upon by the market.

Are private companies worth $1 billion or more, better known as unicorns, startups? If not, when do they shed that title?

I’ve worked on the matter here back in the day, and again more recently for Crunchbase News. But nothing I have come up with really feels correct in hindsight. Reading those pieces makes me feel like I was trying to split the wrong hair.

However, an article from the weekend caught my eye which can add a good deal to the conversation. Inc. is a magazine that I’ve read for ages thanks to its yearly ranking of the fastest-growing companies it can find. It’s a fun list to read, trying to spy companies you’ve already heard of. Recently, the publication broke out a slice of its 2019 Inc. 5000 datasetfocused on San Francisco-based entities.

The private companies growing the most quickly in San Francisco include some names that you will recognize:

• Algolia, a search tool for companies, has raised $74.3 million to-date with backing from Storm Ventures, Accel, and others.
• Carta, a cap-table tool for companies, has raised $447.8 million to-date, with backing from Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, Menlo Ventures, Social Capital, Meritech Capital, Tribe Capital, and a16z. (READ MORE)

Zack O'Malley Greenburg Forbes StaffHollywood & Entertainment Senior Editor, Media & Entertainment

Ten years ago, Taylor Swift was best known as an up-and-coming country singer who’d just been interrupted by Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards. What a difference a decade makes: Fresh off her seventh studio album, Swift is the most-nominated act at this year’s VMAs—and the highest-paid woman in music.

Swift, who is also the world’s top-earning entertainer of any stripe, pulled in $185 million pretax over the past year. Much of it came from her Reputation Stadium Tour, which grossed a U.S.-record $266 million. She also cashed in on a new nine-figure deal with Universal’s Republic Records, and her new album Lover, released last week, is poised to add additional dollars to her coffers after a prime-time performance to kick off the 2019 VMAs. (READ MORE)

5/13/2019 by Xander Zellner

The track also debuts on the Streaming Songs chart.

Lizzo scores her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, as "Truth Hurts" debuts at No. 50 on the chart dated May 18.

The song by the rapper/singer opens with 13.6 million U.S. streams, up 33%, in the week ending May 9, according to Nielsen Music, as the sum drives the bulk of its Hot 100 standing. The total also sparks the track's No. 28 debut on Streaming Songs, where it's likewise her first charted title. (READ MORE)

By Frank Lavin Contributor Asia Aug 26, 2019, 12:01am What is going on in U.S.-China relations and what are the implications for U.S. brands looking for opportunity in the China market, while mindful of the risks? In the latest round of trade tensions on Friday, China responded to U.S. tariffs with new tariffs of its own, and President Trump tweeted that American companies were "hereby ordered" to start looking for an alternative to China. But Alibaba’s ($BABA) quarterly numbers remind us why it’s usually a mistake to bet against China–at least when it comes to retail sales. (READ MORE)