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Eastman Kodak launched a series of toy cameras called “Kodak Charmera.”
The cameras have already sold out since the launch earlier this week.
Charmera cameras are being sold in blind boxes, so consumers don’t know what they’re getting until they buy it.

Kodak Charmera Keychain Digital Camera
Source: Kodak

Eastman Kodak’s latest product launch — a line of 1980s-inspired digital toy cameras called the “Kodak Charmera” — seems to have struck a nostalgic chord with consumers.
The palm-sized point-and-shoot cameras, released Tuesday in collaboration with camera company Reto, are already sold out on Kodak’s website and are only available for pre-order at most affiliated retailers.

Weighing 30 grams and measuring 2.2 inches across, the camera is marketed as a functional fashion accessory and comes in seven styles, each with filters that mimic the look of vintage film photography.
The cameras are sold in blind box packaging, meaning buyers won’t know which style they’re getting until after they purchase one. They can take a gamble and buy a single camera for $29.99, or get the whole color set for $179.94.
But a banner on Kodak’s website said because of the cameras’ high demand, “dispatch will be delayed for 1-10 working days.” It added that some regions might see an error saying shipping isn’t available when they go to check out because they’re out of stock.
The sales come as Kodak, a pioneer of the photography industry, has been struggling.
Kodak’s second-quarter earnings report, released in August, warned that its finances “raise substantial doubt” in its ability to continue operations. The company posted a net loss of $26 million, down 200% from a net income of $26 million for the second quarter of 2024, along with a 12% decrease in gross profit with millions in debt obligations.

The company said at the time that it had a plan to terminate its retirement pension plan to raise money, and noted that the “going concern disclosure” is a technical report required by accounting rules.
Shares of the company are down more than 9% year to date.
Still, the Charmera’s early success suggests Kodak may have tapped into Gen Z’s growing appetite for the vintage look from Y2K fashion to film-style photography. In May, the Global Wellness Institute named “analog wellness,” including predigital technology, as its top trend for 2025.
The Charmera fits squarely into that niche and is capitalizing on another Gen Z obsession: blind box buying.
Kodak’s selling strategy mirrors that of Beijing-based Pop Mart, which has seen booming sales driven by Gen Z buying Labubus, an elf-like monster doll created by Hong Kong Dutch-based artist Kasing Lung, and other toy collectables.

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Medical care costs rose 4.2% in August, according to the Consumer Price Index, now at the highest level in three years.
Large employers are projecting a 9% increase in overall health care spending for 2026, and a 12% increase when it comes to drug spending, fueled by high-priced cancer drugs and GLP-1s for weight loss.
There’s been a surge in workers using flexible spending and health savings accounts to buy GLP-1s in the cash-pay market
Employers are beginning to explore new payment models to get low cash-market pricing for their own health plans

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Health-care inflation is fueling higher coverage costs, setting the stage for what could be the largest increase in health-care spending by large employers in 15 years.
Medical care costs in August rose 4.2% on an annualized basis, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, compared to an overall inflation rate of 2.9%. The cost of doctors’ visits climbed 3.5%, while hospital and outpatient services jumped 5.3%.

Those price increases are contributing to higher health insurance costs for 2026. Consumers who don’t qualify for government subsidies to buy health coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchanges could face double-digit premium increases for next year, according to early filings from insurers.
Workers with employer health coverage could also have to pay higher premium and out-of-pocket costs next year.
Large employers are projecting their overall health coverage costs will rise an average of 9% in 2026, according to several business group surveys, which would be the highest level of health-care inflation since 2010.
More than half of companies surveyed by benefits consulting firm Mercer earlier this year said they are considering passing on some of those increases to workers, but the Business Group on Health says most large employers in its survey are looking for other ways to cut costs.
“Employers have shied away in every way possible, from passing on costs to employees. This year, we see the first indication that they may look to pass some of that on to employees, but again, only as a last resort. They’re going to try and pull as many other levers as possible,” said Ellen Kelsay, BGH president and CEO.

Employer cost drivers: cancer drugs and GLP-1s

Shana Novak | Stone | Getty Images

Prescription drug prices rose 0.9% in August, according to the Consumer Price Index, which considers a range of widely-used generic and brand-name drugs.
But for large employers, expensive drugs are the major drivers of higher health spending.  
Companies surveyed by BGH are projecting a 12% increase in pharmaceutical costs next year, on top of an 11% hike this year fueled by cancer drugs and diabetes and obesity treatments like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ely Lilly’s Zepbound.
“Cancers have been for the fourth year in a row, the top condition driving healthcare costs — cancers at younger ages, later stage diagnoses,” said Kelsay, who added that pricy weight loss drugs are are a close second.
“When it comes to the treatment of obesity, that has been the space that has been the most frothy for the past two to three years and has been what has fueled a lot of this pharmaceutical spending,” she said.
Nearly two-thirds of employers with 20,000 workers or more offer access to weight loss drugs known as GLP-1s, according to Mercer. Less than half of small employers surveyed plan to offer access in 2026.  
With growing demand for the drugs, more companies are tightening eligibility requirements and beginning to explore more affordable ways to provide access for their employees, including the cash-pay market.

Cash-pay GLP-1s

A telehealth executive whose firm offers compounded GLP-1s told CNBC that some large employers are quietly letting workers know they can use health savings accounts to buy the medications for less in the cash market.
“They are worried about how much [the drugs] cost, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think their employees shouldn’t have access to them. They just don’t want to have to pay for it,” said the executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the discussions.
Health account data shows more workers are turning to direct-to-consumer options, including Eli Lilly’s Lilly Direct and Novo Nordisk’s Novocare online pharmacies, both of which offer their weight loss drugs at roughly half the list prices of more than $1000.
GLP-1 purchases are now the top category of cash-pay spending in pre-tax flexible spending and health savings accounts, for expenses not covered by insurance, according to the CEO of health payments processor Paytient.
“We see a tripling from last year to this year of usage at GLP-1 oriented providers. These are places like Lilly Direct, like Ro, like Hims & Hers, and that’s a growing segment,” said Paytient founder and CEO Brian Whorley.  
But employers worry that the cash-pay trend leaves lower-income workers out of the equation because they can’t afford the out-of-pocket costs. That is prompting discussions about how their companies can obtain cash-pay prices to help boost more equitable access for employees.
Self-insured employers have contracted directly with so-called Centers of Excellence for specialty medical care such as cancer treatment and joint replacements. But they can’t currently do the same for many drugs. Under agreements with pharmacy benefit management firms, or PBMs, both the drugmakers and employers would violate their contracts by using a direct cash-pay process. 
But employers are increasingly pressing PBMs for better options, says BGH’s Kelsay. They are beginning to consider new types of benefit managers, which are proposing new payment models for drugs in the development pipeline.
“There are some new entities — some startups in this space — that are building out products and solutions where they are going on behalf of a pooled group of employers to negotiate with manufacturers on certain cell and gene therapies,” she said. 
Paytient’s Whorley calls the challenge of making GLP-1s more affordable a stress test moment for employers and PBMs.
“They’re at a perfect sort of Venn Diagram of clinically effective drugs that change people’s lives, that increasingly will force a choice,” when it comes to financing, Whorley said. “If we get this right, it can provide a blueprint for all the drugs like GLP-1s that will … present challenges for health plans.” More

Tesla said it needed to incentivize CEO Elon Musk with a record-breaking pay package in order to compete with his private companies, according to a proxy the company filed last week.
The proxy highlights the surging valuations of Musk’s private companies and the competing interests of xAI, SpaceX and Tesla.
Together, Musk’s stake in xAI and SpaceX are now worth nearly twice as much as his Tesla shares.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. 
Chip Somodevilla | Via Reuters

A version of this article appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Tesla said it needed to incentivize CEO Elon Musk with a record-breaking pay package in order to compete with his private companies, according to a proxy the company filed last week.

The filing outlines a share award that could be worth $1 trillion if it all pays out. Tesla also said Musk’s other companies — mainly SpaceX and xAI Holdings — now account for most of his wealth and therefore will command most of his attention unless Tesla pays him more.
“A majority of Mr. Musk’s wealth is now derived from other business ventures outside of Tesla, and he has more attractive options today than ever before,” the proxy said. The pay package of up to 423 million shares is necessary, it added, to prevent Musk from “prioritizing other ventures.”
It will be up to shareholders to approve the package, of course. But the proxy highlights the surging valuations of Musk’s private companies and the competing interests of xAI, SpaceX and Tesla.
Until last year, the vast majority of Musk’s wealth came from his Tesla stock. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs Musk’s wealth at about $385 billion, while Forbes estimates his wealth is at $436 billion. The difference is likely tied to his 2018 pay package, which is still in dispute and is valued at between $60 billion and $100 billion. If the compensation plan is restored, and/or he receives an interim comp package proposed in the proxy, Musk’s net worth is closer to $436 billion.
Today, less than half of that fortune comes from Tesla stock.

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Based on his current ownership of 13% of the company, Musk’s Tesla shares are worth about $140 billion. Musk has argued that he needs at least 25% of voting control of Tesla to prevent the company from being taken over as it develops highly sensitive and powerful artificial intelligence technology and robots.
At SpaceX and xAI, he has more voting control, with 42% of SpaceX and a majority stake in xAI. SpaceX is planning an insider share sale that would reportedly value the company at $400 billion, nearly double its valuation last year. At the $400 billion valuation, Musk’s stake would be worth about $170 billion — more than the value of his current Tesla stake.
xAI’s valuation has grown even faster, from $80 billion at the start of the year to a potential $200 billion in a new fundraising round. Musk owns more than 50% of the company, putting his stake well over $100 billion.
Together, Musk’s stake in xAI and SpaceX are now worth nearly twice as much as his Tesla shares. Added to his stakes in Neuralink — valued at around $9 billion — and his other companies, his private company wealth eclipses his Tesla wealth.
Of course, that may not be for long. If he is awarded the 423.7 million shares of restricted stock in the new 2025 compensation plan, and if Tesla hits its target valuation of $8.5 trillion, Musk’s Tesla shares would be worth over $2 trillion. More

Despite having twice the market value of Ford, Singapore’s Sea Ltd is not even half as well known as the storied carmaker. Sea’s founder, Forrest Li, is publicity-shy. Yet the company’s brands are famous among South-East Asia’s 700m consumers. Ads for Sea’s e-commerce arm, Shopee, are plastered all over the Singapore metro. Every day 100m people play “Free Fire”, a “Fortnite”-like video game developed by Garena, Sea’s gaming business. Sea has also built a financial arm, Monee, which holds a $7bn portfolio of loans. More

Biemlfdlkk is a mouthful. It is not exactly clear how to enunciate the eight-consonant jumble in the Chinese golf-apparel brand’s English name. It is even hard to write. But the company is expanding overseas, recently acquiring two foreign brands. This was probably a factor that led it to ditching the odd string of letters it had operated under for 21 years. This year it is swapping the old name for one that is a bit more intelligible: Biemlofen. More

“Nestlé, the proud, Swiss tradition-steeped company, suddenly appears to be a madhouse,” laments the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss daily. Barely a year after ousting its previous chief executive, Mark Schneider, on September 1st the board of the world’s biggest food firm sacked his successor, Laurent Freixe, for not disclosing a romantic relationship with a subordinate. The turbulence at the top is unprecedented in the 159-year history of the company. More

FRANCE IS THE land of haute cuisine and haute couture. Of elegance and aesthetics. Of sophistication and sex appeal. This stereotype extends to business. The largest French companies, LVMH and Hermès, are purveyors of luxury to the global elites. Yet as the country enters another political crisis following the collapse on September 8th of the second government in less than a year, it is a rather duller side of France SA that is outshining the rest. More

Goldman Sachs polled 245 global family offices to find out where the ultra-rich are placing their bets.
Investment firms of uber-rich families are making opportunistic bets in stocks and secondaries when other investors retreat.
Family offices trimmed their private equity bets, but more than a third plan to deploy more capital in the next 12 months.

07 July 2025, USA, New York: A street sign reading “Wall Street” hangs on a post in front of the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan’s financial district. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa (Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Family offices have ramped up their bets on stocks while dialing back their private equity bets, according to a new survey by Goldman Sachs.

Investment firms of ultra-wealthy families reported an average allocation of 31% to public equities, up 3 percentage points from the bank’s last poll in 2023. Over the same two-year period, their allocation to private equity dropped from 26% to 21%, the largest change for all surveyed asset classes. 
The shift to stocks was marked for family offices in the U.S. and the Americas, which raised their average allocation from 27% to 31%. As for private equity, their allocation dropped by 2 percentage points to 25% but still exceeds that of their international peers. The bank polled 245 worldwide family offices, two-thirds of which reported managing at least $1 billion in assets, from May 20 to June 18. 
Tony Pasquariello, global head of hedge fund coverage at Goldman Sachs, described the portfolio as a “pro-risk asset mix,” as family offices have maintained a relatively high allocation to private equity.

This is despite growing concerns about geopolitical risks and inflation. In the next 12 months, more than three-quarters of respondents said they expected tariffs to be the same or higher and expected valuations to stay the same or decrease.
Family offices, especially those in the U.S., can face hefty tax bills if they make significant divestments, according to Sara Naison-Tarajano, leader of Goldman Sach’s Apex family office business. Moreover, she said, family offices tend to invest opportunistically when other market players retreat, as they did in April when tariff announcements roiled the markets. 

“There are concerns in the market, geopolitical issues, trade war issues,” said Naison-Tarajano, who is also the global head of capital markets for the private wealth division. “If they’re concerned about these things, they’re going to be ready to put money to work when these dislocations happen.”
Investing in public equities and ETFs is also the preferred way for family offices to invest in artificial intelligence, according to the survey. The vast majority (86%) of respondents said they were invested in AI in some capacity, with other popular options including investments in secondary beneficiaries of the AI boom like data centers or AI-focused VC funds.
Goldman Sachs’ Meena Flynn added that family offices are still making opportunistic plays in private equity, with 72% investing in secondaries, up from 60% in 2023. Endowments and foundations have been divesting as they are pressed for liquidity, but family offices can scoop attractive assets at a discount and weather the exit slowdown.
“They have the ability to invest in assets that they can hold over multiple generations and not be worried about an exit,” said Flynn, co-head of global private wealth management.
And while family offices appear to be drawing down in private equity, 39% reported plans to invest more in the asset class in the next 12 months, the highest of any category. Nearly the same proportion (38%) intend to invest more in stocks.
Most family offices did not expect to change their portfolios in the upcoming year. However, across every asset class, more family offices planned to increase their allocations rather than decrease. A third of respondents intend to deploy more capital while only 16% intended to increase their cash and cash equivalents allocation.
“I think what this forward-looking picture tells us is that family offices realize the importance of staying invested, and they realize the importance of vintaging, especially with private equity,” Naison-Tarajano said.  

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That said, family offices in the Americas are more bullish than their peers. More than a third reported not positioning for tail risk compared with 14% and 12% of firms in EMEA and APAC. The most popular method of preparing for a black-swan event was geographic diversification at 53%, with gold ranking second at 24%. While gold made up less than 1% of the average family office portfolio, Flynn said she has seen allocations in some portfolios as high at 15%.
“Especially in regions where our clients are very worried about political instability, they’re actually holding gold in physical form,” Flynn said. “Many of our clients literally want to see the serial number and know where it is in the vault.”
Asian family offices have also taken to using cryptocurrency as a hedge, according to Flynn. Only a quarter (26%) of APAC family offices said they were not interested in crypto, compared with 47% and 58% of their peers in the Americas and EMEA, respectively.
Overall, a third of family offices are invested in crypto, up from 26% in 2023 and doubled from 2021. Of those who haven’t, Asian family offices reported the most interest (39%) in doing so, versus 17% of their peers. Flynn attributed much of their interest to concerns about geopolitics.  More