Celebrity Business Moves This Week: Mark Cuban, Kim Kardashian, Angel Reese and More Stars Making Money Moves
- Jessica Ramirez
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
Explore this week’s biggest celebrity business moves, from Mark Cuban’s MLB investment and Kim Kardashian’s clever marketing campaign to Angel Reese’s Barbie collaboration, Rare Beauty’s first ambassador and Matthew McConaughey’s tequila-infused ice cream.
Celebrities Were Busy Turning Fame Into Serious Business This Week
Another week has passed, which means celebrities have once again demonstrated that appearing in movies, recording albums, dominating professional sports and accumulating millions of social-media followers apparently leave plenty of time for a side hustle. This week’s celebrity business news included sports ownership, beauty campaigns, fashion collaborations, signature merchandise, energy drinks and tequila-infused ice cream.
The famous and financially ambitious covered nearly every section of the shopping mall. From Mark Cuban entering Major League Baseball ownership to Angel Reese becoming a Barbie doll, these moves show how modern celebrities are transforming their names, audiences and personal stories into increasingly sophisticated businesses.
Mark Cuban Finally Steps Up to the Major League Baseball Plate
Mark Cuban made one of the week’s largest celebrity business moves when his private-equity firm, Harbinger Sports Partners, acquired a minority stake in the Athletics. Financial terms were not publicly disclosed, but the transaction gives Cuban a long-awaited position in Major League Baseball ownership. Harbinger is co-led by Cuban and Atlanta Falcons minority owner Rashaun Williams, and the Athletics investment is reportedly the firm’s first sports-team deal. Cuban previously served as majority owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and retained a minority interest after selling control of the franchise. Now he is adding baseball to his sports portfolio, presumably because owning part of one professional team was simply not enough excitement for one lifetime.
The Athletics are preparing for a planned relocation to Las Vegas, where a domed stadium costing approximately $2 billion is expected to open in 2028. That makes Cuban’s investment more than a casual purchase of a few luxury seats and an embroidered team jacket. It places him alongside a franchise undergoing a major geographic and commercial transformation. Las Vegas has become an increasingly important sports and entertainment market, and Cuban is entering at a moment when the organization’s stadium, audience and overall business identity are being rebuilt. Among this week’s stories, this is the clearest example of a celebrity making an ownership-level move rather than simply appearing in an advertisement and smiling beside a product.
Kim Kardashian Turns a Personal Setback Into an Energy-Drink Campaign
Kim Kardashian gave the phrase “turn lemons into lemonade” a caffeinated update this week. Kardashian, who co-founded the energy-drink company Update earlier in 2026, used her California bar-exam setback as material for a humorous advertising campaign. In the promotional video, she participates in a mock press conference, addresses public commentary about her schedule and jokes about failing to pass the bar while continuing to promote the drink. It is bold, self-aware marketing: take the joke everyone expects to make, tell it first and place the product directly in the middle of it.
The campaign is also a clever example of celebrity founders using their personal narratives as marketing assets. Kardashian is not presenting Update as an unrelated product that happened to mail her a large check. She is connecting the beverage to the public image that has followed her for years: constantly working, managing multiple ventures and possessing a schedule that would make an ordinary calendar quietly resign. Whether viewers are interested in the drink, her legal journey or simply the spectacle of Kardashian making fun of herself, each group has a reason to watch and share the campaign. That is considerably more memorable than another advertisement featuring a celebrity jogging through an empty city at sunrise while holding a suspiciously pristine bottle.
Angel Reese Becomes a Barbie—and Expands Her Business Playbook
WNBA star Angel Reese received the plastic version of a lifetime achievement this week when Mattel unveiled a Barbie doll created in her likeness. The doll reflects Reese’s identity as both an athlete and fashion personality, featuring a team-inspired uniform, headband, legwear and accessories connected to her recognizable courtside style. Mattel released the doll ahead of the 2026 WNBA All-Star Weekend, giving the announcement a timely connection to one of the league’s largest annual events.
The collaboration extends beyond the toy aisle. Reebok also introduced a Barbie-themed edition of the Angel Reese 1 signature basketball shoe, combining Reese’s existing footwear business with Mattel’s globally recognizable brand. This is where the partnership becomes especially interesting commercially. Reese is not merely endorsing one isolated product; she is connecting sports, fashion, collectibles and youth culture through several complementary products. A fan can admire the athlete, buy the doll, wear the shoes and potentially spend the afternoon explaining to someone why the doll’s sneakers are more fashionable than theirs.
The launch also strengthens Reese’s broader position as an athlete building commercial relevance away from the basketball court. Her brand activity has included signature footwear, media projects, ownership interests and charitable work through the Angel C. Reese Foundation. The Barbie partnership adds another valuable category to that portfolio while emphasizing representation and encouraging young fans to see athletic achievement, personal style and business ambition as parts of the same story.
Matthew and Camila McConaughey Put Tequila in the Freezer
Matthew and Camila McConaughey expanded Pantalones Organic Tequila into dessert through a limited-edition partnership with Tipsy Scoop, a company known for alcohol-infused ice cream. The collaboration produced Peaches & Cream Margarita Ice Cream, combining peach ice cream with tequila and lime. A vegan Dallas Margarita Sorbet is also expected as a Texas-exclusive offering connected to Tipsy Scoop’s Dallas location.
The nationwide flavor became available at Tipsy Scoop locations and through Goldbelly, giving Pantalones a way to reach customers outside the traditional spirits aisle. Instead of simply asking people to pour another drink, the brand is placing its tequila into a completely different consumption occasion. It is the sort of product extension that sounds ridiculous for approximately three seconds and then begins to make perfect sense, especially during summer. Somewhere, a bowl of ordinary vanilla ice cream just realized it has been underperforming.
From a business perspective, the collaboration allows both brands to borrow from each other’s audiences. Pantalones gains access to dessert shoppers and Tipsy Scoop receives the attention attached to the McConaugheys and their tequila company. The promotion also arrived around National Tequila Day, demonstrating the value of connecting a limited release to a recognizable cultural moment. Seasonal timing, celebrity attention and national delivery make the partnership a playful but strategically sensible piece of brand marketing.
Rare Beauty Selects Its First Brand Ambassador
Rare Beauty, the cosmetics company founded by Selena Gomez, named actor Ella Bright as its first brand ambassador. Bright, known for her role in the streaming series Off Campus, became the face of the brand’s “Made You Blush” campaign promoting its Soft Pinch Liquid Blush. The campaign’s video uses a light romantic setup in which various admirers fail to make Bright blush—because, naturally, that responsibility belongs to a cosmetic product available for purchase.
The appointment is an important development for Rare Beauty because the brand has historically been closely connected to Gomez’s public identity. Choosing an outside ambassador suggests the company is broadening its storytelling and building relationships with new personalities who can introduce its products to different audiences. That is a normal but meaningful stage in the evolution of a founder-led celebrity company. At some point, a successful brand has to prove it can speak through more than one famous face.
Bright also provides Rare Beauty with a connection to a younger entertainment audience while fitting the company’s approachable, emotionally aware image. Her public enthusiasm for the brand’s mental-health mission helps the partnership feel more aligned than a purely transactional endorsement. Of course, it is still a business arrangement. Nobody accidentally becomes the face of a major cosmetics campaign while wandering through a pharmacy. Nevertheless, the pairing appears strategically coherent and gives Rare Beauty another character through whom it can communicate its values and products.
Hailey Bieber and Gap Bring 1990s Denim Back Again
Hailey Bieber continued expanding her fashion and business presence through a limited-edition denim capsule with Gap. The collection includes two relaxed styles—the Extra Baggy and the ’90s Low Rise Loose—and draws inspiration from 1996, the year Bieber was born. The pieces include custom washes, references to 1996 and Bieber’s signature inside the pocket. Nothing says nostalgia quite like turning the year of your birth into a design feature while making a substantial number of customers feel ancient.
The campaign reportedly includes creative work from Bolded, Bieber’s branding firm, giving her a role that extends beyond simply modeling the clothes. That detail reflects a wider shift in celebrity partnerships. Increasingly, stars are attempting to participate in campaign development, product direction and brand strategy rather than functioning as interchangeable faces on billboards. For Gap, the partnership supports its continuing use of celebrity culture, music and nostalgia to refresh familiar wardrobe staples.
The collaboration also arrives as loose-fitting denim and minimalist 1990s styling remain commercially attractive. Bieber’s personal aesthetic is closely associated with understated basics, oversized silhouettes and carefully constructed “effortless” outfits that probably required several meetings. The partnership therefore feels consistent with both her public style and Gap’s accessible American identity.
Celebrity Businesses Are Becoming More Sophisticated
The most important lesson from this week is that celebrity commerce is no longer dominated by straightforward endorsement deals. Some of these arrangements still involve traditional promotional work, but the larger trend is moving toward ownership, product development, licensing, creative participation and cross-category partnerships. Cuban purchased a stake in a professional sports franchise. Reese connected her personal brand to toys and footwear. The McConaugheys moved a tequila label into frozen desserts. Kardashian transformed public criticism into founder-led advertising. Each move uses fame differently.
The stronger celebrity businesses also tend to create a logical connection between the person and the product. Reese’s Barbie reflects her established nickname, fashion influence and status as a professional athlete. Bieber’s Gap collection fits her widely recognized wardrobe. Kardashian’s Update campaign leans into her reputation for maintaining an unusually crowded schedule. The McConaugheys’ dessert partnership preserves the humorous personality of their tequila brand. Consumers may recognize that these campaigns are carefully planned, but coherence still matters. People are generally more willing to accept a commercial partnership when it does not appear to have been created by pulling a celebrity’s name and a household appliance out of separate hats.
What These Celebrity Money Moves Mean for Brands
For companies, celebrity partnerships can create immediate visibility, but attention alone is not a complete strategy. The most promising collaborations give the celebrity a believable role and provide audiences with something more substantial than a familiar face. That might mean equity, product input, a personal story, a signature design or a connection to an existing community. The celebrity brings attention, but the product still has to give consumers a reason to remain after the initial social-media excitement disappears.
This week’s announcements also demonstrate the power of mixing industries. Sports can become fashion. Tequila can become dessert. Entertainment can become beauty. A professional investor can become a baseball owner. These combinations allow companies to reach audiences in places where ordinary advertising may struggle to attract attention. They also create the kind of unusual headline people actually want to click—which, let us be honest, is why we are all discussing tequila ice cream instead of reading a press release about quarterly logistics improvements.
Mark Cuban’s Athletics investment was the week’s largest ownership move, while Angel Reese’s Barbie and Reebok collaboration offered the strongest example of a celebrity brand expanding across categories. Kim Kardashian demonstrated how personal setbacks can be repackaged as entertaining marketing, Rare Beauty took a meaningful step beyond its founder and the McConaugheys found a delightfully summery way to make tequila even less interested in remaining inside a glass.
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References
Reuters. “Mark Cuban Group Buys Minority Stake in A’s.” July 24, 2026.
Business Insider. “Kim Kardashian Is Using Her Bar Exam Failure to Sell Energy Drinks.” July 24, 2026.
People. “Barbie Honors WNBA Star Angel Reese with New Doll.” July 24, 2026.
The Cut. “Angel Reese Is Officially a Barbie Doll.” July 24, 2026.
People. “Matthew and Camila McConaughey Introduce 2 New Booze-Infused Ice Cream Flavors.” July 22, 2026.
The Spirits Business. “Pantalones Chills Summer with Tipsy Scoop.” July 24, 2026.
People. “‘Off Campus’ Star Ella Bright Is Rare Beauty’s First-Ever Ambassador.” July 2026.
The U.S. Sun. “Gap Leans Into ’90s Nostalgia with Hailey Bieber Denim Line.” July 2026.
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