JTG MINI: Phia, Phoebe Gates and the 'cookie stuffing' scandal

JTG MINI: Phia, Phoebe Gates and the 'cookie stuffing' scandal

From Just The Gist by Just The Network

July 14, 2026 · 57 min · Season 1 · Episode 87

About this episode

This episode discusses the cookie stuffing scandal involving Phoebe Gates' shopping app Phia and the implications of the investigation.

Phoebe Gates, the 23-year-old daughter of billionaires Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, has spent the last year insisting her shopping app Phia would succeed with, quote, 'no ties to my privilege or my last name'. And it seemed to be working: Phia raised $43.5 million from investors including Khloe Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Sydney Sweeney, and hit a $185 million valuation in less than two years. Then on the 9th of July 2026, a Bloomberg investigation alleged the app had been faking how well it was doing with a sneaky trick called 'cookie stuffing', possibly defrauding investors and affiliate partners out of tens of millions of dollars. It's so serious that the last people caught doing it were prosecuted by the FBI and went to federal prison. This is Just The Gist (MINI!) of Phia, Phoebe Gates and the fake clicks scandal: the Bloomberg cookie stuffing investigation, the celebrity investors, and the self-made girlboss story that may be unravelling in real time. . We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions…

People in this episode

Host: Rosie Waterland

Guest: Phoebe Gates

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomberg

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