Good morning! OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar shares that 75% of company revenue is from consumer subscriptions, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman talks IPOs, and NIL superstar Livvy Dune has a vision for her own brand after college. Have a lovely Tuesday.
- College career. In the three years since the NCAA reformed its name-image-likeness rules, allowing college athletes to earn money for the first time, some of the biggest winners have been female athletes. They range from Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese (and the monetized personal brands they brought to the WNBA this season) to athletes in sports without as clear a professional path—like the Louisiana State University gymnast Livvy Dunne.
Dunne, now 22 and entering her fifth year on LSU's gymnastics team, has been a breakout NIL superstar. With 4.5 million followers on Instagram and 8 million on TikTok, the gymnast has inked deals with brands including activewear-maker Vuori, American Eagle, and Nautica. She ranks No. 2 on On3's list of NIL athletes by valuation, with her worth pegged at $4 million, behind only football star Shedeur Sanders. Right now, she is the top-ranked female athlete by far; the next-highest female earner is LSU basketball star Flau'jae Johnson, ranked at No. 25 with $1.5 million.
In May, Dunne signed a deal with Passes, a creator economy platform competing with sites including Patreon and OnlyFans. And last week, she inked her first brand deal that came with an equity stake, choosing to partner with influencer Jake Paul's personal care brand W.
That partnership could set Dunne on a path to figure out where her career will go after college athletics. While Dunne has been known as a gymnast, much of her income comes from more straightforward work as an influencer. For year five at LSU, her goal is to win a second national championship. But afterward, Dunne says she hopes her time as a student-athlete carries over as she continues her career on social media. "I've heard firsthand from brands they like working with student-athletes because of how disciplined they are, and they know they're going to get the work done," Dunne says. "And I think that'll carry over into post-college life."
Dunne says she admires Paul, who alongside his brother Logan Paul has turned content creation into a growing empire. She says she would be interested in launching her own brand. "Having my own product one day, I think that would be super cool," she says. "I definitely do want to have my own thing one day."
At LSU, Dunne launched a fund to help other female athletes learn how to monetize their brands. "For women athletes, they don't even know how to get started with NIL," she says. "It doesn't need to just be social media. It doesn't need to be completely in my footsteps. It could be that you're an artist, you can be a musician, you could knit. You can do anything and capitalize off of it."
While male athletes continue to earn the most, Dunne believes NIL presents the most opportunity for female athletes. "There's not a lot of professional leagues for women's sports after college," she says. "It's so important that you have your own rights to your name, image, and likeness. I don't think this is the end of college athletics at all—I think it's just the start."
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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