Kylie Jenner’s $600 million payday is Peak Kardashian

[Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a crack commando unit of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions, sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Coty pays up for [Kylie Jenner’s possibly fleeting cred](. - Trump should [support Iran’s protesters](. - America’s interest rates are [already below zero](. - The [Megamerger Era may end]( soon. Coty Says ‘How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?’ You’ve heard of Peak Oil (first [supply](, now [demand]() and [Peak TV]( (and its cousin, [Peak Streaming](). But you probably didn’t know that, all along, the real lurking threat to the American Way of Life has been Peak Kardashian. The bell ringing at the top of the Kardashian market may have been the lukewarm reception to Kim’s husband’s new [album](. Or maybe it came yesterday, when Kim’s half-sister Kylie Jenner got $600 million from Coty Inc. for control of a cosmetics line she founded when she wasn’t old enough to legally drink. For the poorly educated, Jenner’s relationship to Kim is best explained in this helpful chart by Elaine He: Anyway, the youngest Jenner/Kardashian is almost certainly now the wealthiest. She’s probably a 22-year-old billionaire, thanks to her ability to spin social-media-influencer cred into pure gold. And as Andrea Felsted writes, [Coty is paying dearly for Kylie’s cred](. But as Andrea also notes, life comes at you fast these days, and cred can disappear quickly. Wanna feel old? “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” has been on for 17 seasons. How much longer do we really want to keep up with these people? Coty is about to find out, while Kylie counts her money and plots her next move. Iran’s Protesters Need a Better Internet Connection The world has been riveted for weeks by scenes of protest around the world, from Hong Kong to Chile. Less visible has been an uprising in Iran, mostly because the repressive government there has shut down the internet, slowing information to a trickle. President Donald Trump may take some credit for sanctions putting pressure on Iran’s regime. But [there’s more his government can do to support protesters](, Bobby Ghosh writes. For one thing, it can lift its self-defeating travel ban on Iranians. It could also [help defeat that internet crackdown](, notes Eli Lake. Protesters have managed to find workarounds, but they’re spotty and potentially dangerous. The U.S. government — maybe with an assist from Facebook, Twitter and other social-media outlets — could do much more to help.  Further Protest Reading: Corruption isn’t the root cause of Arab unrest; it’s [the lack of sustainable economic growth](. — Amr Adly As Long As the Music Is Playing, You’ve Got to Get Up and Dance Trump has long been hollering at Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to slash interest rates below zero, to keep up with negative rates in Europe. He did it again just [yesterday](. But once you adjust for inflation, U.S. [interest rates are already below zero](, notes Gary Shilling. This is warping financial markets and leading investors and banks to take ever-bigger risks in the hunt for that sweet, sweet yield. It will likely not end well. In one example of this risky behavior, pension funds and other big pools of non-wealthy civilian money are rushing into alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity, where managers do not always cover themselves in glory. To the extent these managers take the money of the non-wealthy, [they should be required to disclose more about themselves]( to the SEC, writes Barry Ritholtz. Meanwhile, enjoy the marathon stock rally that easy money brings, but [keep a close eye on the exits](, warns Mohamed El-Erian. Megamergers’ Time Is Gonna Come So far in the Trump presidency, the guiding antitrust principle seems to be “don’t annoy Trump.” T-Mobile buying Sprint? Totally fine. Bristol-Myers Squibb buying Celgene? Cool beans. AT&T buying Time Warner? Sorry, CNN makes Trump angry. One Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission offers a hint of how dramatically this paradigm could change if and when a Democrat takes the White House, writes Joe Nocera. Commissioner Rohit Chopra is [the standard-bearer of a philosophy some call “hipster antitrust](,” which not only opposes megamergers but is skeptical of corporate bigness in general. It’s a sentiment shared by many on the left and could dominate the FTC in, say, an Elizabeth Warren presidency. Further Merger Reading: A $5 billion [Novartis AG bet on a cholesterol drug]( may not pay off. — Max Nisen Telltale Charts Home Depot Inc.’s third-quarter sales stumble was a) not really that bad and b) [not a sign of American consumer weakness](, writes Sarah Halzack. The [tax cuts did stimulate business investment](, but the trade war has pushed it in the other direction, writes Karl Smith. Further Reading Having [fewer banks advise on the Saudi Aramco IPO]( could have headed off embarrassment. — Chris Hughes You think the oil industry is bad? [ConocoPhillips kind of agrees](. — Liam Denning Finance is not immune to climate change, but [regulators aren’t doing enough]( to protect investors and the system. — Gregg Gelzinis and Graham Steele  [Gunmaker Remington faces a dilemma]( now that the Supreme Court has let a Sandy Hook lawsuit continue. — Noah Feldman Trump just told [Israel it can take whatever it wants]( in the West Bank. — Zev Chafets Tomorrow’s debate is probably [the last chance for Cory Booker]( to break out. — Jonathan Bernstein ICYMI Sweden [dropped its rape case]( against Julian Assange. Two jail workers were [charged in Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide](. A money-laundering expert was [accused of money-laundering](. Kickers Esports gamers are [just as stressed as pro athletes](, a study has shown. (h/t Scott Kominers) Astronomers draw the [first global map of Titan](. Researchers may have accidentally found [a way to quiet tinnitus](. The [50 best non-fiction books]( of the past 25 years. Note: Please send tinnitus cures and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022