Retail
Adore Beauty opens its first physical store
Adore Beauty is stepping beyond the screen. This weekend, it will launch its first-ever brick-and-mortar store at Westfield Southland in Melbourne.
As Kaycee Enerva reports in Inside Retail, the boutique will blend digital innovation with hands-on beauty experiences. It will offer a curated selection of 300+ brands, in-store beauty services, and digital skin analysis.
CEO Sacha Laing says the move brings the brand’s much-loved online experience to life, giving beauty lovers a chance to explore, learn, and play in person.
Lovisa hit with class action over ‘exploitative’ workplace culture
Costume jewellery giant Lovisa is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims of a toxic work environment, unpaid hours, and harsh dress code policies targeting young female staff.
The suit alleges workers were forced to train on their own time, adhere to “unrealistic and unsafe” dress rules -such as wearing high heels and open-toe shoes – and even buy and wear at least five Lovisa jewellery pieces per shift.
As Eli Greenblat repots in The Australian, staff who didn’t comply with strict shoe rules were reportedly sent home without pay, while others missed legally required breaks.
Tech
Meta settles Trump lawsuit with $25m payout
Meta has agreed to a $25 million settlement with Donald Trump, ending a lawsuit over his 2021 account suspension following the January 6 Capitol riot.
As Dara Kerr reports in The Guardian, $22 million of the settlement will go towards funding Trump’s presidential library, while the rest covers legal fees and other plaintiffs.
Trump’s lawsuit was one of several he launched against tech giants, including YouTube and Twitter (now X), after being deplatformed.
SoftBank eyes record-breaking $40bn investment in OpenAI
SoftBank is in talks to pump up to $40 billion into OpenAI, positioning itself as the ChatGPT creator’s biggest backer and deepening ties on a massive AI infrastructure push.
As Arash Massoudi, David Keohane and George Hammond report in The Australian Financial Review, the potential $25 billion direct investment in OpenAI comes on top of SoftBank’s $15 billion commitment to Stargate, a $100 billion data centre project set to scale up to $500 billion over four years.
Sources close to the deal say the final investment figure remains fluid, but if it goes through, SoftBank’s total outlay could surpass $40 billion – marking one of the most aggressive bets yet on AI’s future.
Television
Seven settles fair work dispute with ex-Spotlight producer
Seven has reached a confidential settlement with former Spotlight producer Amelia Saw, avoiding what a judge warned could have been a “blizzard of bad press.”
As Steve Zemek reports in The Daily Telegraph, Saw took legal action last year under the Fair Work Act, alleging a hostile work environment during her time on the program in 2022. The case was sent to mediation after Seven secured a suppression order on key court documents.
With a five-year suppression order now in place, the full details of the case remain under wraps.
Australia’s most popular TV host named
The ABC’s Sarah Ferguson has been crowned Australia’s most popular TV host, beating out breakfast TV heavyweights in a new StudioHawk study ranking the nation’s favourite on-screen personalities.
The 7.30 presenter took the top spot based on a ‘popularity score’ calculated from search volumes and Instagram followers – outranking Sunrise’s Edwina Bartholomew (2nd), Today’s Karl Stefanovic (3rd), The Project’s Sarah Harris (4th), and Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr (5th), who was the most-searched female host in the top five.
As Kyle Laidlaw reports in TV Blackbox, the study analysed over 100 Australian TV hosts, weighting Instagram followers at 70% and search volumes at 30%.
Music
Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull dies at 78
British music icon Marianne Faithfull has passed away at 78, leaving behind a career that spanned six decades and a legacy far beyond her famous ties to Mick Jagger.
A spokesperson confirmed the news, saying Faithfull died peacefully in London, surrounded by family.
Discovered at a Rolling Stones party in 1964, she became a Swinging Sixties muse – but proved to be much more.
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