Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Is Bleeding Money and $1.2 Million in Debt

By Kate Dries  |  April 21, 2014 | 3:20pm
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How does Goop, the weekly lifestyle email/newsletter and brainchild of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, support itself? That question has been plaguing those who wanted the secret of how Paltrow has been able to spread her gospel to the people. Well, newly released documents indicate that Goop has had some very unprofitable years – except, of course, for Gwyneth and her CEO.

Radar Online has obtained Goop’s corporate documents for 2011 and 2012 which reveal a few interesting things, if you’re someone who considers the goings-on of Gwyneth Paltrow’s work life interesting. Between 2011 and 2012, Gwyneth and CEO Sebastian Bishop enjoyed a sizable increase in pay, from £102,788 to £350,000, or from less than $200,000 to almost $600,000. In 2012, Paltrow (who goes by her married last name of Martin in the papers) and Bishop also received personal interest-free loans from Goop; Paltrow’s was £29,200 and Bishop’s was £49,800, totaling over $100,000. Bishop paid back £13,000 of that money, while Paltrow had not.

All of this would probably be on the up-and-up, if the rest of the company hadn’t been doing badly financially. In 2012 Goop made £908,378, or almost $1.5 million. But their expenses were £932,096, which meant they lost £23,715, or $39,850. That’s an improvement from 2011, when they made £64,484 and spent £216,544, putting them £152,060 — that’s $255,500 — in the red. Goop can credit the increase in profits to product sales, Groupons and commissions. Documents are not available for 2013, so perhaps this past year was a banner year for Goop. But the report indicates that the company owed over $1.2 million, due by the end of 2013.

As promised, Goop donates money to charity. Sums ranging between $2,000 and $3,000 went to the David Lynch Foundation, the Edible Schoolyard Foundation, Pencils of Promise and the Sandy Hook Foundation.

According to the documents, Paltrow/Martin holds the majority of the shares in the company, 80% to Bishop’s 20%. But Radar Online reports that Bishop, formerly CEO of International (RED), just left Goop. He had been with the company – which was founded in 2008 – since 2011.

Coincidentally or not, last week’s Goop newsletter was about emotional pain.

Images via Theo Wargo/Getty for Lincoln Center and Goop

 
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