The Profile: The king of luxury & 2024’s most influential billionaire

This edition of The Profile features Bernard Arnault, Jeff Yass, Noah Lyles, and more.

Good morning, friends!

A few years ago, I was walking with my husband in Miami when a fight broke out on the street in front of us.

One guy had something in his hand, and the other had his hand over his eye bent over in pain.

We tried to get out of the way, but we were too close to entirely avoid the kerfuffle. As soon as we passed the area, I started feeling an intense burning sensation in my eyes, nose, and mouth. I then started coughing uncontrollably.

I had no clue what was happening to me when my husband said, “I think we just walked through pepper spray.”

So, friends, this is the story of how I once got second-hand pepper-sprayed. (I hope to never know what first-hand pepper spray feels like.)

When I tell this story today, I laugh. But when it was happening, I was Googling whether pepper spray could be lethal.

As David Sedaris says, “Everything’s funny eventually.”

Sedaris has had an illustrious career as a humorist and best-selling author, and he is a master at turning everyday moments into funny stories that connect with nearly every human who comes across his work.

His secret is that he envisions himself as “part of a story,” and his best advice is to let that story unfold.

One time, he was on a train in Paris, and an American was talking to his friend in English, when he told her this about Sedaris: “Be careful, that guy is a pickpocket.”

Of course, Sedaris could’ve interrupted him and told him he was not a pickpocket and that he was also American, but that would require him to interrupt the story.

Sometimes, he says, let life unfold, become an observer, and tune into your surroundings until they feel like a story. To write about the world, he says, you have to live in the world.

And a big part of living in the world means living through hardship.

When Sedaris is in a traumatic situation — such as getting tested for cancer — he reminds himself that he can write about this later. Writing becomes a refuge.

Similarly, author Stephen King says the requirement to be a great writer is "the ability to remember the story of every scar."

He adds, “Writers remember everything — especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones, you get novels."

The best writers are unafraid to look at their scars, to examine them, to confront them, and most importantly, to discover meaning in them.

There’s no deeper meaning in my second-hand pepper spray story other than ‘be more vigilant, and get out of the way,’ but it just reminded me that our everyday trifles can often make for some great stories. As Sedaris says, “Even if nothing much happened, I still have a lot to say about it.”

PROFILES.

— The king of luxury [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— 2024’s most influential billionaire
— The world’s fastest man**
— The men in finance
— The 22-year-old who memorized the world

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The king of luxury: It’s the profile we’ve all been waiting for: the deep dive on LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault. Over the past 40 years, Arnault has assembled the world’s largest luxury conglomerate and globalized a sector once constrained by the limited ambitions of family-owned European companies encrusted in tradition. Thanks almost exclusively to him, luxury is now the universal obsession of shoppers all over the globe. Arnault has dressed royals and presidents, supermodels and celebrities. Perhaps more than anyone else, he’s made the clothes and accessories that signify status among the global elite—and project a bit of their insecurity, too. Here’s how he took the nouveau-riche brands that symbolized Europe’s postwar influence and exported them all around the world. (Bloomberg; if you can’t access the article, try this link) [For more, check out Bernard Arnault’s Profile Dossier here]

“He has a responsibility now that he built something, and he wants to transmit it.”

2024’s most influential billionaire: Jeff Yass, who has a personal fortune of $47 billion, oversees Susquehanna International Group LLP, a trading firm burrowed deep in the machinery of modern finance. It’s a giant force in options, stocks, energy, bonds and foreign exchange—and also in more esoteric stuff. A registered Libertarian since 1996, Yass is a former Never ‘Trumper’ who’s recently softened to become an ‘OK-Fine-Might-As-Well-Be’ Trumper. He is now one of the largest individual donors in the 2024 federal election cycle. (Bloomberg; if you can’t access this article, try this link)

“If you aren’t an expert on option theory, it’s very difficult to be an expert in decision-making.”

The world’s fastest man: The Paris Olympic Games are set to begin on July 26, and the stage appears set for Noah Lyles, called the ‘world’s fastest man,’ to steal the show. He’s made noise about chasing a fourth gold medal, in the 4 × 400-m relay. No male track athlete has ever won that many sprint golds at an Olympic Games. Is he poised to become America’s biggest star? (TIME)

“I love to do what I do. And that’s a dangerous guy.”

The men in finance: It’s the summer of the ‘finance bro.’ Men working in finance are the latest public fascination. It all started with a TikTok video by 27-year-old Megan Boni. Her April post, amassing about 49 million views, features a singsong message: “I’m looking for a man in finance. Trust fund. 6’5.” Blue eyes.” Here’s how this TikTok was singlehandedly responsible for ushering in a new golden age for the men working in finance. (WSJ; if you can’t access the article, try this link)

“It’s the most honest song which has been released in a long time.”

The 22-year-old who memorized the world: Back in 2021, a 22-year-old from Arkansas named Trevor Rainbolt shuttered himself in his apartment with the goal to memorize the world. For months, he spent his time studying Google Street View from his desk chair. Why? He wanted to win an online game called GeoGuessr. The game presents the player with a randomly selected image of a stretch of road on Google Street View; at the top of the screen is a timer, and at the bottom is a world map. The aim is to use signs, infrastructure, vegetation and any other distinctive elements to locate the images as swiftly as possible on the map. Here’s how Rainbolt became the game’s most famous player and what he’s doing with the opportunity. (The New York Times, if you can’t access the article, try this link)

“You feel oddly familiar with a lot of the world — like you’ve been there before.”

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