The proposed valuation equates to roughly ten times Golden Goose's expected year-end core profit, including debt. The Venice-based brand, known for its '500-plus distressed sneakers, recorded '655m in revenue and '227m in adjusted core earnings in 2024. HongShan has asked former Gucci chief executive Marco Bizzarri to become Golden Goose's future chairman. The Chinese private equity group plans to expand the company's directly operated retail network, with a particular focus on Asia, and is targeting a medium-term stock market listing once conditions improve. Golden Goose abandoned an IPO in Milan last year, citing volatility linked to European political uncertainty. A sale to HongShan would represent one of the largest luxury fashion transactions of the year and a major exit for Permira, which has backed the brand during a period of rapid global growth. Subscribe to our Newsletter to increase your edge. Don't worry about the news anymore, through our newsletter you'll receive weekly access to what is happening. Join 120,000 other PE professionals today....

The region's 500-year transformation into a Catholic stronghold seemed capped in 2013, when Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected as the first Latin American pope. Once a missionary outpost, Latin America is now the heart of the Catholic Church. It is home to over 575 million adherents ' over 40% of all Catholics worldwide. The next-largest regions are Europe and Africa, each home to 20% of the world's Catholics. But even as Protestant ranks swelled, another trend was quietly gaining ground: a growing share of Latin Americans abandoning institutional faith altogether. And, as my research shows, the region's religious decline shows a surprising difference from patterns elsewhere. While fewer Latin Americans are identifying with a religion or attending services, personal faith remains strong. In 2014, 8% of Latin Americans claimed no religion at all. This number is twice as high as the percentage of people who were raised without a religion, indicating that the growth is recent, coming from people who left the church as adults....

ChatGPT's growth is starting to taper off, according to new data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Today, the OpenAI-owned AI chatbot remains the leader in the space, accounting for 50% of global downloads on mobile devices and 55% of the global monthly active users. However, Google's Gemini has begun to outpace ChatGPT in terms of download growth, growth of monthly active users, and growth of time spent in app, the firm found. Over time, that increased pace of adoption could help Gemini narrow the gap with ChatGPT. That's something OpenAI is now worried about, as its recent 'code red' memo indicated. The missive, penned by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, instructed staff to focus on improving the company's AI products, particularly in areas like personalization, reliability, image generation, and more. But the new data indicates that ChatGPT's global monthly active users only grew by around 6% from August to November, to reach roughly 810 million. (The monthly active user numbers in the above chart are rounded, the firm notes.) This figure could suggest the AI chatbot is nearing market saturation, Sensor Tower says....

This agreement involves both HBO Max and the HBO studio, marking one of the largest mergers in Hollywood's history. By making this move, Netflix is not just solidifying its top position but also significantly enhancing its content library, gaining access to well-known franchises such as DC Comics, 'Game of Thrones,' and 'Harry Potter.' In November, senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Richard Blumenthal expressed concerns regarding the potential sale. The trio sent a letter to the Justice Department Antitrust Division indicating that any agreement would be viewed 'under a cloud of political favoritism and corruption.' Warner Bros. Discovery officially put itself up for sale in October, burdened by debt and disappointing streaming growth. The company attracted interest from several suitors, with Paramount seen as the frontrunner. The acquisition is expected to finalize in the third quarter of 2026, after Warner Bros. Discovery follows through with its plan to separate from Discovery Global, which includes its collection of pay TV networks, such as TNT and CNN....