Also: Berkshire's cash, Apple's slump, China's spin. 
Good morning, Peter Vanham here from rainy and cold Belgium, filling in for Alan.
Barbie this weekend affirmatively answered a billion dollar question: Whether a movie solely directed by a woman, starring a woman in the lead role, could ever become a mega Hollywood success. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has surpassed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, becoming one of just 53 movies to do so (not accounting for inflation). It is the only film solely directed by a woman to pass that threshold.
Barbie‘s blockbuster performance has capped the summer of the woman consumer. The film, the mega-popular tours of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé (each of which has disrupted local economies), and the ongoing Women’s World Cup—already hailed as the “most successful” in history—have underscored the enormous importance of the female dollar.
Some investors, like Angel City FC co-founder Kara Nortman, long ago noticed that women—fans of women’s sports, in Nortman’s case—were underserved. Once people are “showing up and caring about something, they become these very active consumers of content, of merchandise,” she told Fortune‘s Leadership Next podcast last month.
If anyone still doubted the power of the female purse, this summer should have won them over. Swift’s Eras tour alone is projected to add $5 billion to the global economy.
That show of force is all the more reason for women’s perspective to be fully represented in business leadership. And as Fortune’s Global 500 list of companies shows, there is still a long way to go. Just under 6% of those leading the world’s largest companies are women today, a record, but still far too low. The same goes for Fortune 500 companies, where 10% of CEOs are women.
Firms that fail to understand and account for the female consumer are likely leaving dollars on the table. As Nortman put it, there’s a lot of upside. “I actually think it is going to be the biggest value creation opportunity I see in my career and many see in their career,” she says.
More news below.
Peter Vanham
peter.vanham@fortune.com
@petervanham
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Berkshire cash
Berkshire Hathaway increased its cash holdings to $147 billion last quarter, suggesting that legendary investor Warren Buffett is struggling to find bargains in today’s market. Buffett has dismissed worries about U.S. government debt after last week’s downgrade by Fitch Ratings, telling CNBC that he had bought $20 billion in Treasuries in the last two weeks alone. Berkshire also reported $26 billion in unrealized gains from its investments last quarter. Fortune
Bad apple
Apple lost $130 billion in market capitalization—worth more than the value of all but 50 U.S. companies—on Friday as investors worried about declining device sales. Chief Executive Tim Cook warned of a “challenging smartphone market in the U.S.” on the company’s earnings call last Thursday. Now, to justify its valuation at nearly $3 trillion, Apple may need to turn to services, which are not yet growing fast enough to offset weak device sales. Fortune
Chinese pressure
Chinese regulators are reportedly putting pressure on analysts and economists to downplay bad news and negative commentary on the struggling Chinese economy. Authorities want economists to “interpret bad news from a positive light,” said one advisor to China’s central bank. China’s economy is flirting with deflation, with consumer price inflation hitting zero in June. Financial Times.
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Back-to-school spending in the face of inflation Consumers are reassessing their spending and pulling back on nonessentials like tech and apparel, according to Deloitte’s 16th annual back-to-school survey. However, nearly six in 10 parents say they would be willing to splurge for the right reasons. How might this impact retailers? Explore insights here.
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