Chinese consumers are keeping a tight grip on their wallets—but apparently not when it comes to Alo.
Retail sales in China rose just 0.4% year over year in August, half the pace economists polled by Reuters had expected. Weak consumption and a prolonged property downturn had already helped drag second-quarter GDP growth to 4.3%, the slowest pace in more than three years.
Yet when the Los Angeles-based activewear and lifestyle brand opened its official flagship store on Tmall, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer marketplace, on Aug. 12, shoppers spent more than 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million) within one minute of the presale checkout opening at 12:30 a.m., according to Alibaba. Alo, which had announced its arrival on Chinese social media less than two months earlier, went on to set a sales record for a newly launched brand in Tmall’s sports and outdoor category.
The blockbuster debut came with caveats. Dao Insights, a publication that tracks Chinese consumer trends, noted that accumulated preorders, a limited-edition tote bag, and celebrity-driven fan demand may have concentrated sales into the opening rush, leaving the durability of that demand less clear.
Still, Alo is already betting on a much bigger physical presence. On Sept. 16, the company announced plans to open eight more stores across seven Greater China cities through 2027: two in Shanghai and one each in Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Separately, a previously announced Hong Kong flagship at K11 Musea is slated to open this fall.
Alo had one big advantage: It wasn’t entering China cold. Long before its official launch, Chinese consumers could buy Alo through cross-border e-commerce and resellers, while the brand’s celebrity-heavy marketing and social media presence had already built awareness. In the days leading up to its Tmall debut, Alo-related topics racked up 240 million views on RedNote, the popular Chinese lifestyle and social media platform, according to Dao Insights.
That meant Alo didn’t have to spend its launch introducing itself. Instead, it could focus on shaping how Chinese consumers experience the brand, from its product mix and pricing to its broader wellness positioning. Alo also localized its marketing, tapping actress Zhao Lusi, actor Wang Yibo, and supermodel Sui He, a veteran of multiple Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows.
Alo’s focus on community
The strategy extended beyond e-commerce. Before the Tmall launch, Alo kicked off an eight-week series of community events in Shanghai, including running clubs, city walks, outdoor yoga, cycling and wellness classes. The programming introduced consumers to what Alo calls the “Alosphere,” its lifestyle ecosystem combining movement, wellness, community and culture.
Early sales also offer a clue to how Chinese shoppers see the brand. As of Aug. 14, Alo’s bestselling product wasn’t a pair of yoga leggings but its 1,150-yuan (about $170) Suit Up straight-leg trousers, with more than 10,000 sold, according to China Daily. A 1,750-yuan (about $260) sneaker sold more than 3,000 pairs. Both were selling at full price.
That mix suggests Alo’s appeal in China may extend well beyond the yoga studio. Its early momentum also fits a broader split in Chinese consumption: Even as overall spending remains weak, premium sports and wellness brands continue to find pockets of growth. On’s Asia-Pacific sales rose 43.1% in the second quarter, with the Swiss running brand citing strong momentum in Greater China, while Arc’teryx operated 79 owned retail stores in Greater China at the end of 2025, a net gain of 61 since 2019.
Alo is also entering a market long dominated by Lululemon—and even the incumbent is showing signs of strain. Lululemon operated 174 stores in mainland China as of Aug. 2, but its comparable sales there fell 8% on a constant-dollar basis in its fiscal second quarter.
Against that backdrop, Alo’s fashion-heavy early sales suggest it may be carving out a niche as much through style and lifestyle as through performance.
Now the brand is betting it can turn that early enthusiasm into a lasting retail business. “Our ambition goes beyond opening stores: we are building an Alosphere,” Benedetta Petruzzo, Alo’s international CEO, said in announcing the expansion.
Key insight: House Democrats are asking regulators to extend the Community Reinvestment Act proposal’s comment period to at least 120 days, saying the sweeping rewrite needs more time for public feedback.
Supporting data: The proposal would raise asset thresholds for compliance, narrow lending and service activities considered in CRA exams and make it easier for banks to receive an outstanding rating.
Forward look: Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the proposal would refocus the CRA on its statutory purpose and prevent it from becoming “a social credit score for banks” or “a funding mechanism for activist NGO networks.”
Democratic lawmakers spearheaded by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., urged the The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Thursday to extend the comment period for their proposed overhaul of Community Reinvestment Act rules to at least 120 days, citing concern that the Trump administration’s proposed rewrite of the anti-redlining regulation was adopted behind closed doors.
Processing Content
In a letter to FDIC Chairman Travis Hill and Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould, lawmakers — including every Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee — told the regulators that the “expansive” pending rule, which spans over 400 pages, needs more time for review considering that it could also reduce the number of banks evaluated for community development activities.
“The proposal sets out to redefine asset thresholds for rule compliance; narrow CRA evaluation on lending activity; limit the range of services considered for purposes of the CRA service test; makes it easier for banks to receive an outstanding rating; narrow the number of banks evaluated for their community development activities,” the lawmakers wrote. “Taken together, the proposed revisions likely will significantly impact which institutions are encouraged to meet the credit needs of their communities through activities that extend beyond lending such as community development activities.”
The letter also raised concerns about the proposal’s potential interaction with the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the bipartisan housing legislation Congress enacted this year.
“More than 375 groups including financial institutions, religious groups, small businesses, local government agencies, and community organizations responded to the recent proposed rule with a letter noting ‘serious concerns’ and indicate that more time is necessary to complete their analysis,” they wrote. “As we and other stakeholders analyze this new proposal, we request that the public comment period be extended to no less than 120 days to give members of the public more time for substantive review and comment on this sweeping proposal.”
Congress passed the CRA in 1977 as a way to address de facto lending discrimination against communities of color. The act requires that banks be graded on how equitably they are lending to low- and moderate-income customers and neighborhoods in their service areas, typically determined by where they have branches and deposit-taking automated teller machines. Banks need to receive a satisfactory mark in order to merge with or acquire other banks.
Read more:
The metrics regulators use to measure banks’ compliance with the law are widely believed to be out of date and in need of a refresh. The implementing regulations — last updated in 1995 — have not expanded many lower-income households’ access to credit, according to a 2023 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While the study showed the act’s implementation drove more mortgage activity overall to low income areas, this did not drive greater borrowing outcomes — saying banks fulfilled CRA obligations by purchasing loans from CRA-exempt nonbanks rather than expanding credit.
The first Trump administration made an effort to revise the rules, but the proposal, backed by then-Comptroller Joseph Otting, lacked consensus with the FDIC and the Fed, and the revisions pursued by the OCC alone were rescinded by the Biden administration. The Biden regulators undertook a comprehensive overhaul of their own that was finalized in 2023, but the current slate of regulators moved to rescind those rules in April 2025 after an industry-led lawsuit challenging the rule.
The most recent proposal, issued jointly by the FDIC and OCC last month, would relax requirements for banks with under $10 billion in assets from reporting the full slate of CRA compliance data and would narrow what kinds of activities count as “credit” on firms’ community reinvestment report cards. Importantly, the Trump-era rewrite also places new restrictions on grants banks give to nonprofits as part of their strategies to meet the needs of underserved local communities.
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould characterized the recent proposal as an effort to refocus CRA on its statutory purpose, saying the changes would prevent the law from being used “as a social credit score for banks” or “as a funding mechanism for activist NGO networks under the guise of community development.”
Advertiser Disclosure: This site is part of affiliate sales networks and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
[2026.9 Update] The new welcome offer is 80k.
[2025.7 Update] This card is completely renewed, and the annual fee is increased from $99 to $149. The new benefits are marked with [New] below.
[2025.1 Update] The higher offer is expired. There’s only 60k offer now.
[2024.6 Update] The new offer is 60k+60k, the latter part requires $15k spending which is a bit high. After the spending you will get the companion pass directly.
Application Link
Benefits
80k offer: earn 80,000 Southwest Miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. This is one of the best offers on this card.
We value Southwest Miles at 1.3 cents/point (Airline Miles Value), so the 80k offer is worth about $1,040. See A Beginner’s Guide to Southwest Miles to check for details about Southwest Miles.
[New] Earn 3x miles per dollar spent on Southwest Airlines; Earn 2x miles per dollar spent at gas stations and restaurants on the first $8,000 in combined purchases per anniversary year; Earn 1x mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
Receive 6,000 Southwest Miles every year on your Cardmember anniversary.
[New] First checked bag free. Cardmembers and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation can check their first bag at no additional cost.
[New] Preferred Seat Selection within 48 hours prior to departure, when available. If you don’t have a co-branded credit card or elite status, the lowest fare on Southwest only lets you select your seat at check-in.
[New] Cardmembers and up to 8 passengers in the same reservation will board with Group 5.
[New] Receive a 15% promo code each year on your cardmember anniversary (Excludes Basic fare).
If you earn 125k Southwest miles in a year, you get the Southwest companion pass certificate which is valid until the end of next calendar year!
[New] 10,000 companion Pass qualifying points boost each year.
[New] Earn 2,000 TQPs (tier qualifying points, useful towards A-List status, but not useful towards companion pass) for every $5,000 spent.
No foreign transaction fee.
Disadvantages
[New] Annual fee $149, not waived first year.
Southwest doesn’t have airlines partners, so the miles can only be redeemed for Southwest Airlines itself. Southwest can only fly to the US and some central America and Caribbean countries, no further international routes.
Recommended Application Time
[5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account.
Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.
Summary
The welcome bonus is solid. Under the current terms, the two Southwest business cards do not affect each other’s welcome bonus eligibility, meaning you can apply for both. (In contrast, you can only hold one of the three personal Southwest cards at a time.) When welcome bonuses are at their peak, applying for one personal and one business card together can earn you over 125k Southwest points—enough to unlock the Companion Pass right away. (Note: You can no longer apply for two personal cards in the same year.) Since the Companion Pass is valid for the rest of the calendar year you earn it plus the entire following year, applying early in the year gives you the maximum value. If you’re interested in Southwest, the beginning of the year is the best time to apply.
After the 2025 refresh and annual fee increases across the Southwest lineup, there’s really not much long-term value in keeping these cards. They’re mostly just good for the welcome bonus.
Click to expand benefits before 2025.7.24
Benefits
60k offer: earn 60,000 Southwest Miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. The best recent offer is 60k+60k.
We value Southwest Miles at 1.3 cents/point (Airline Miles Value), so the 120k highest offer is worth about $1,560. See A Beginner’s Guide to Southwest Miles to check for details about Southwest Miles.
Earn 3x miles per dollar spent on Southwest Airlines; earn 2x miles per dollar spent on hotel and rental car partners, local transit and commuting (including rideshare); earn 1x mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.
After each year anniversary and pay the annual fee, you will be credited 6k Southwest miles.
If you earn 125k Southwest miles in a year, you get the Southwest companion pass certificate which is valid until the end of next calendar year!
No foreign transaction fee.
Disadvantages
Annual fee $99, not waived first year.
Southwest doesn’t have airlines partners, so the miles can only be redeemed for Southwest Airlines itself. Southwest can only fly to the US and some central America and Caribbean countries, no further international routes.
Summary
The sign-up bonus is good. If you apply for a personal Southwest card and a business Southwest card, both when have the highest sign-up bonus, then you will earn more than 125k Southwest miles in total, which is more than enough to get you a Companion Pass (Note that you can’t get two personal Southwest cards at the same time now). The best timing to get it is the beginning of a calendar year, because it will be valid until the end of next calendar year!
t
Related Credit Cards
Chase Southwest Plus
Chase Southwest Premier
Chase Southwest Priority
Chase Southwest Premier Business
Chase Southwest Performance Business
Annual Fee
$99
$149
$229
$149
$299
Annual Miles
3,000
6,000
7,500
6,000
9,000
The current terms basically force you to choose only one personal Southwest credit card among the three. But you can have both personal and business cards.
Recommended Downgrade Options
You can not downgrade this card to any card with no annual fee, so I suggest you close it when you don’t want to keep it any longer.
After Applying
Call 800-453-9719 to check Chase business cards application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
Historical Offers Chart
Application Link
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I saw that the FAFSA opened this week, but I feel like we make too much for financial aid. We’re right around $125,000 a year and our daughter is a senior. Every time I bring it up, someone tells me not to bother.
Should we even still fill it out?
— Rick
Welcome to the Friday mailbag, where we take one reader question and answer it. Have one? Send it to us — details at the bottom.
The Short Answer
File it, and file it now while the form is open early. It’s important to note that the FAFSA is the application for financial aid. It, by itself, does not really unlock anything except for a federal Pell Grant and federal student loans. The application then goes to state grant and scholarship agencies and the universities, where larger dollars of financial aid are found.
At $125,000 you’re in the range where families most often assume they’re disqualified and most often turn out to be wrong, especially depending on the schools you’re looking at. There’s also a chance your state requires it for her to graduate.
The FAFSA itself takes about 10-15 minutes – and we call it the best free lottery ticket for higher education. Don’t leave potentially free money on the table.
The FAFSA Opened Early This Year
The 2027-28 form went live this week, ahead of the usual October 1 date, in what the Department of Education is calling the earliest launch in the program’s history for the second consecutive year.
Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said the form now takes about 15 minutes on average to complete.
Filing early is worth actual money rather than just peace of mind. State grant programs and institutional financial aid funds are frequently awarded until they run out, so families who file early can be ahead of those waiting. Our FAFSA deadline rundown lists the federal, state, and school dates, and the state ones are usually the ones that bite.
An early application also gives you time to fix problems. A mismatched FSA ID, a verification request, or a correction can take days or weeks, and having that happen in October rather than February is the difference between an inconvenience and a missed deadline.
There Is No Income Cutoff
Remember, the FAFSA is just the application. There is no income cutoff and nobody is turned away from making too much.
Each individual financial aid program has it’s own rules, which is where the confusion starts. Pell Grants have real income limits tied to the federal poverty guidelines, and people generalize from Pell to the entire system. But Pell Grants cap at $7,395 per year, and are generally the smallest dollar amount of financial aid awarded.
Our breakdown of FAFSA income limits covers why families well into six figures still file and still receive aid.
Income alone doesn’t produce your Student Aid Index either. Family size and assets both move the number, which is why two households reporting the same salary can have two different results. Running your own figures through our SAI calculator takes a few minutes and tells you more than any rule of thumb about income ever will.
What decides need is your SAI measured against a specific school’s cost of attendance, not your salary considered in isolation. At a college charging $88,000 a year, a family at $125,000 frequently shows demonstrated need. Meanwhile, at an in-state public charging $28,000, the same family may not. A truth most families miss is that if you are relying on financial aid, most state schools won’t help you – you need to look at private colleges.
Our explanation of what counts as a good SAI puts the number against real sticker prices.
Your State May Require It
In the last few years, a number of states have actually started requiring high school seniors to fill out the FAFSA. Depending on your state, you may need to fill it out or request a waiver.
The count has moved around as legislatures have added and repealed these rules, but currently 12 states require it. Most of these policies include an opt-out waiver a parent can sign, which means the requirement rarely traps anyone, but discovering it in May of senior year is a worse experience than handling it in October.
Even where it isn’t mandatory, some districts and high schools track completion rates and build counseling around the form. A senior whose family skipped it can end up outside a process her classmates are being walked through.
What You Give Up By Skipping It
Federal student loans run entirely through the FAFSA, and the FAFSA is the application. Skipping the form means your daughter borrows privately or not at all, giving up the fixed federal rate, income-driven repayment, and access to student loan forgiveness programs she may want in fifteen years.
That single consequence outweighs the twenty minutes the form takes, and we cover it alongside several other reasons to file regardless of income.
Institutional aid is the larger piece and the one families underestimate. Many colleges require a FAFSA on file before awarding their own grants, and some attach merit scholarships to it even when the award has nothing to do with need. A school can’t pull money for your daughter from a fund that requires a form she never submitted.
State grant programs frequently use FAFSA data as well, and several states set parameters considerably above the federal ones.
What Changed Since The Last Time You Heard About This
Advice from parents whose children enrolled a few years ago may point in the wrong direction now. The FAFSA Simplification Act rebuilt the formula, replaced the Expected Family Contribution with the Student Aid Index, and shifted where various thresholds fall.
A GAO review found the overhaul added roughly 1.9 million students to the Pell Grant rolls, while separate rule changes have moved where the middle-class Pell cutoff sits. Neither is likely to reach a household at $125,000, but both explain why secondhand advice about who qualifies has aged badly.
The 2027-28 SAI chart shows where your income actually lands under the current formula, which is the fastest way to replace a guess with a number.
What To Do This Week
Create FSA IDs for your daughter and one parent first. If you have to verify your identity, it can add several days to the process.
Gather the tax return the form pulls from, along with current balances for any accounts you’ll report. Knowing which assets count and which are excluded matters more than filing fast, and a miscategorized asset is the most frequent reason a family’s number comes back higher than it should.
Submit in the next few weeks rather than waiting for spring. The early opening is only an advantage if you use it, and the funds awarded on a rolling basis go to families who file first. Our recommendation is to complete the FAFSA before Thanksgiving.
Keep your documentation together in case you’re selected for verification. It’s a routine sampling process rather than an accusation, and families with paperwork ready clear it in days.
Where People Get This Wrong
The most expensive mistake is treating the FAFSA as a means test you either pass or fail. It’s an application for access, and most of what it unlocks for a family at your income has nothing to do with demonstrated need.
Another is assuming an SAI number is the definitive answer. Colleges build their own awards on top of the federal figure, and two schools with identical sticker prices routinely produce packages that differ by tens of thousands of dollars.
The last one is letting a neighbor’s experience decide it. Financial aid depends on your household, the school, and the year, and someone else’s outcome three years ago tells you very little about yours.
Send Us Your Question
Got a student loan, financial aid, or money question you can’t get a straight answer on? Send it to us and we may answer it in a future Friday mailbag.
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Reader Mailbag
Have a question for us? Ask away. Questions submitted may appear articles on The College Investor. We may not answer every question. We reserve the right to edit and publish your questions. But don’t worry — your identity will remain anonymous.
Editor: Colin Graves
The post We Make Too Much For Financial Aid. Should We Still File The FAFSA? appeared first on The College Investor.
The initial public offering (IPO) of Space Exploration Technologies(SPCX +0.44%) was a worldwide spectacle. The anticipation was intense as Elon Musk sold shares in the company to the public for the first time. SpaceX, as the company is more commonly known, raised $75 billion from the IPO, with the underwriter’s overallotment bringing the total to more than $85 billion. A lot of insiders got rich, but there’s a catch that could keep the stock rangebound through at least December. Here’s what you need to know.
How much does a share of SpaceX go for?
The IPO price for SpaceX was $135. But when the shares opened, the stock started trading at $150. Given all the excitement around the company’s IPO, it isn’t surprising that the stock quickly jumped, peaking at just over $200 per share. But once the enthusiasm faded, it crashed to $108. That’s not exactly shocking, with the stock now back in the $150 range.
Image source: Getty Images.
Investors are emotional, so there’s no telling what will happen with SpaceX stock. That said, there’s an interesting headwind that investors need to understand. The insiders who got rich during the IPO are likely only rich on paper, because insiders generally aren’t allowed to sell their stock right away. They are subject to lockup periods. In this case, insiders will be able to sell shares on various dates through December 2026.
Space Exploration Technologies
Today’s Change
(0.44%) $0.65
Current Price
$148.68
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$2.0TMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$146.00 – $149.67
52wk Range
$104.83 – $225.64
Volume
54.6M
Avg Vol
93.4M
A lockup doesn’t change the number of shares that exist, but may increase the number of shares that freely trade on the market. That means that investors have to absorb more volume, which often puts downward pressure on a stock’s price. This isn’t unusual at all, as lockup periods are normal fare with initial public offerings. Only SpaceX’s record-setting IPO clearly wasn’t a normal IPO. Anything that Elon Musk touches seems to get extra investor attention.
Should you sell while the stock is back at the IPO price?
If you are a long-term investor and believe SpaceX is a leading, if not THE leading, space stock, you probably shouldn’t sell it. However, if you are a short-term trader who bought into the hype surrounding the IPO, thinking that the stock would rocket to the moon, you might want to consider selling it now that it is back in the $150 range. Indeed, insiders who want to turn their paper profits into realized gains will need to sell their shares, which could be a major headwind for SpaceX’s stock at least through late 2026.
Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s Weekly Round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s Round-up is exclusively supported by BMI, a global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music.
This week, Warner Music Group announced a leadership shake-up, with Val Blavatnik joining the company, Elliot Grainge taking on an expanded role at ADA, and Simon Robson set to exit after nearly 30 years with the company.
Meanwhile, Suno confirmed that its v6 model was trained in part on user ‘creations’ as it hit back at a fresh copyright lawsuit from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
Elsewhere, MBW delved into Universal Music Group’s lawsuit against DistroKid – including the revelation that over 50% of one major streaming service’s tracks were supplied by the DIY distributor.
Also this week, Carianne Marshall is set to exit her role as Co-Chair and COO of Warner Chappell Music, while Sony Music Group became the first music company to join ARIAM, an AI policy coalition alongside Disney, the BBC and The New York Times.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
1. Warner Music Group Shake-Up: Val Blavatnik joins, Elliot Grainge adds ADA, Simon Robson exits
Warner Music Group has announced a string of changes to its global leadership team, which the company says will drive its “next phase of growth.”
Coming in: Val Blavatnik joins the WMG executive team in the new role of Managing Director, Warner Music North America, UK, & Corporate Development.
As that job title suggests, it’s understood that Blavatnik will now lead Warner’s recorded music operations across the US, Canada, and the UK. (MBW)
2. Suno confirms V6 model was trained on ‘creations’ from users, as it blasts latest Sony and Universal lawsuit
Suno has said its v6 AI music models were trained in part on “creations” made by its own users on the platform.
The company set out that description in a statement responding to a second copyright lawsuit filed on Friday (September 18) by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment in Boston federal court, where the labels’ original case against the company is already being heard.
Suno said v6 was trained on “interactions including creations and preference signals” from its community. (MBW)
3. Over 50% of a major streaming service’s tracks come from DistroKid – and other revelations from UMG’s lawsuit
Universal Music Group‘s complaint against DistroKid, filed last week, runs to 52 pages.
It accuses the DIY distributor of “deceptive trade practices and blatant copyright infringement”, and of flooding streaming services with AI-generated “slop.”
The suit runs on two separate theories: (i) four counts of copyright infringement, which reach tracks that copy UMG recordings, and (ii) one count under the Delaware Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, essentially accusing DistroKid of distributing “AI slop” under the guise of music made and recorded by actual humans. (MBW)
4. Carianne Marshall to exit Warner Chappell Music
Warner Music Group has announced that Carianne Marshall is to exit her role as Co-Chair and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Chappell Music (WCM), the global music publishing arm of WMG, at the end of this month.
A WMG media release said Marshall’s exit comes as the company “streamlines its leadership structure.”
WCM CEO Guy Moot will become the sole chair of WCM, effective October 1. Marshall will remain with the company through the end of the calendar year. (MBW)
5. Sony Music Group becomes first music company to join AI policy coalition ARIAM – alongside Disney, the BBC, and The New York Times
Sony Music Group has joined the Alliance for Responsible Innovation in the Arts & Media, the AI policy coalition better known as ARIAM.
It is the first music company to join the group, which launched in June 2026 with members drawn from film, television, journalism, publishing, education, and technology.
The announcement was made on Wednesday (September 23) by Victoria Furniss, ARIAM’s Executive Director and CEO. (MBW)
Partner message: MBW’s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI, the global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music. Find out more about BMIhere. Music Business Worldwide
He said the challenge is to keep pushing forward even when everyone around a broker is hitting them with negativity.
“Your family is like, ‘Oh, I heard interest rates are high.’ And what are you supposed to be like? ‘Yeah, it’s awesome,’” Ishbia said sarcastically. “Because they want to commiserate. Ninety percent of people, they like negative things. They like to talk about the bad because the bad is what’s fun to talk about, because nobody wants to talk about the good, which is ridiculous. Be different. Think differently. Be positive all the time.”
Desmond P. Smith, EVP and chief growth officer at UWM, told Mortgage Professional America that the rate environment itself was beside the point.
“When I first started in the early nineties, rates were in the high nines,” Smith said. “But most of these people have never experienced that. And guess what? The market kept going. The market will keep going. People will continue to buy houses. People need cash out. I think credit card debt is at the highest level. People need cash out to improve cash flow.”
He said the market’s direction has never been something originators could control in the first place.
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