Brad Pitt Starts a Studio

The pandemic has been rough on Stella McCartney Limited, perhaps less so on Stella McCartney. The designer enjoyed a $3.6 million salary in 2020, while her company’s 1,400 employees went on furlough, according to The Times of London, with 80 percent of their wages paid by a government taxpayer-funded plan. The LVMH-backed fashion house was also accused last spring of being a year behind on rent—nearly $1.4 million—at its Madison Avenue store, in New York. Well, at least McCartney’s salary, according to a company representative, reflected a pay cut. Because we’re all in this together.

Taxpayer-funded wage furloughs have also come in handy at the Trump Turnberry, a Luxury Collection Resort. Donald “I think [Brex]it’s a great thing” Trump’s golf course in Scotland has admitted, in filings, “that Britain’s departure from the European Union hurt the company by damaging the ‘availability of drivers and staff, reducing deliveries and the availability of certain product lines,’” according to The Times of London, and that “the business had to pay more because of Brexit-related freight and import duties, while ‘lack of access to European staff’ was linked to the lower availability of workers and higher wage costs.” The newspaper also reported that Trump’s leisure businesses in Scotland have claimed $4 million in government subsidies—to put it in perspective, that’s slightly more than Stella McCartney’s slashed salary.