IBM, the technology behemoth, began its life as International Business Machines. They made rudimentary adding machines, mostly for merchants and small businesses. Ray Kroc, the impresario behind the McDonald’s empire of hamburgers, was originally in the ice cream manufacturing industry, selling electric blenders for the preparation of milk shakes.
At a certain point in every business, the people in charge have to make a decision: do we keep doing exactly what we’ve been doing, or should we diversify our product line? The in-vogue term for this kind of strategic move is “pivot,” and the business press is full of companies contemplating, or in the midst of, some kind of major pivot from one thing to the next.
Being a celebrity is a business too – in many ways a more cut-throat and unforgiving one than making hamburgers or adding machines. Celebrities, unlike technology concerns or chain restaurants, don’t really have what is called, in business jargon, defensible businesses. The keys to success in the film and television business are fairly non-exclusive: you must be reasonably attractive and you must be able to speak clearly. That’s about it. As Spencer Tracy, the iconic Hollywood movie star, put it, the trick to being a great actor is knowing your lines and not bumping into the furniture.
Los Angeles is an international magnet for attractive people from all over the world. For almost a century, young people have been arriving there – and yes, they’re mostly young – with dreams of riches and stardom, only to discover that every other pretty face from every other outback town has had the same idea. In Hollywood, there’s always someone a little richer, a little more famous and a notch or two higher on the beauty ladder than you are.
Which is why smart celebrities keep expanding their corporate offerings. Jessica Alba – without question one of the most dazzling and alluring young movie stars around – must have noticed at some point the long line of newer, fresher Jessica Alba’s gathering in audition rooms, appearing in smaller parts, generally moving closer and closer to her level of prestige and power. She must have realised, smartly, that movie stardom is a fleeting thing – sort of like being a professional athlete – and that eventually she’d be replaced with a more recent product. This is, after all, an industry in which it’s not unknown to send out a casting notice for a “younger” version of whoever is in fashion. Even when he was a fresh face in his twenties, there were casting directors out scouting for a “young Tom Cruise”.
Jessica Alba, though, took a page from IBM and McDonald’s book – she got into a new line of business. Along with a few partners, Alba is an owner and executive of a cleaning products company called The Honest Company, which is currently valued at almost $2 billion (Dh7bn). That’s a figure well in excess of whatever she might have made as a movie star.
Reese Witherspoon, the talented and accomplished actress, has opened a small clothing and housewares design business, along with a charming boutique in Nashville, Tennessee. Her products are simple, fun, sunny knick knacks and accessories for the home, along with tasteful and classic women’s clothing. It’s a smart way to hedge against the uncertainty of the entertainment industry. Actor Ashton Kutcher is an active venture capitalist, and has invested in some of the tech industry’s most high-flying companies. Rapper 50 Cent made tens of millions with a mineral water business when he sold the company to Coca-Cola. Robert De Niro has ownership in a swanky New York hotel, as well as the Nobu chain of upscale sushi restaurants. And everyone knows that music entrepreneur Dr Dre sold his headphones company to Apple for $3bn.
Being a movie, television, or music star these days is really just a springboard to a better line of work – something with a much bigger upside and no age limitations. Alba and Witherspoon can keep selling their wares well into their sixties and seventies, should they wish to. Kutcher, who hasn’t been in a feature film or television series in years, can relax with his Silicon Valley riches. Hollywood can move on to whatever the hot new thing is without dooming them to bankruptcy or, worse, anonymity. They’ve diversified their portfolios, which as any savvy investor will tell you is the safest and smartest move to make.
There are still young, attractive hopefuls pouring into Hollywood daily, eager for their shot at fortune and celebrity. The smarter ones, though, realise that stardom – now more than ever – is a fleeting and financially risky move, and are actively searching for ways to branch out. The most successful Hollywood aspirants will end up treating their careers, and themselves, the way Ray Croc treated his milkshake machines – as a place from which to pivot to another more lucrative and dependable business. It’s not enough to be a rich, attractive movie star anymore.
Rob Long is a writer and producer in Hollywood
On Twitter: @rcbl
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Brief scores:
Toss: Rajputs, elected to field first
Sindhis 94-6 (10 ov)
Watson 42; Munaf 3-20
Rajputs 96-0 (4 ov)
Shahzad 74 not out
Brief scores:
Kashima Antlers 0
River Plate 4
Zuculini 24', Martinez 73', 90 2', Borre 89' (pen)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20Profile
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What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
Rebel%20Moon%20-%20Part%20One%3A%20A%20Child%20of%20Fire
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EZack%20Snyder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESofia%20Boutella%2C%20Djimon%20Hounsou%2C%20Ed%20Skrein%2C%20Michiel%20Huisman%2C%20Charlie%20Hunnam%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
Voy!%20Voy!%20Voy!
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013