Luxury was supposed to be one of the safest businesses in the world. Raise prices. Sell fewer products. Protect exclusivity. Let wealthy consumers absorb the difference. For years, that strategy worked remarkably well. Louis Vuitton bags became more expensive. Hermès raised prices. Rolex waiting lists became part of the product. Luxury brands discovered that higher prices did not necessarily reduce desire. Sometimes they increased it. But in 2026, something changed. European luxury companies have lost roughly $350 billion in market value , according to Reuters, as investors reassess the assumption that consumers will keep paying more simply because a famous logo says they should. Reuters LVMH has been one of the clearest casualties. Its core fashion and leather goods division — which includes Louis Vuitton and Dior — reported a 5% organic sales decline in the third quarter, far worse than analysts had expected. Sales in China-led Asia also fell 5%, while LVMH's market value has ...

  For a while, Character.AI looked like one of the clearest winners of the generative AI boom. People were not just asking its chatbots questions. They were talking to them for hours. Users created characters. Role-played fictional relationships. Built interactive stories. Talked to AI versions of celebrities, anime characters and entirely fictional personalities. By 2024, Character.AI had accumulated more than 200 million registered users , around 20 million monthly active users , and a valuation of roughly $1 billion . Reuters That sounds like the beginning of a massive technology company. Instead, less than two years later, Character.AI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . And the numbers explain why. At one point, the company was spending around $10 million every month on computing power . Its subscription revenue peaked at only about $2.8 million per month . Even after including advertising, monthly revenue never exceeded roughly $5.3 million . Reuters That gap is the ...