• Gap CEO says its viral "Better in Denim" ad campaign drove double-digit sales growth, led by Gen Z.
• The campaign featured Katseye and made a wave during the denim ad wars over the summer.
• Gap Inc. outperformed Wall Street's expectations for its third-quarter earnings.

Gap is taking a victory lap after the success of its viral denim ad campaign over the summer.

Richard Dickson, CEO of Gap Inc., said the brand's "Better in Denim" ad campaign, in addition to being a huge hit on social media, converted into significant sales.

"With more than 8 billion impressions and 500 million views, Better in Denim culminated in a global cultural takeover and has become one of the brand's most successful campaigns to date, generating significant traffic and double-digit growth in denim," Dickson said Thursday on the company's third-quarter earnings call.

Gap Inc., which includes its namesake brand as well as titles like Old Navy and Banana Republic, beat analyst expectations and raised its guidance for the year. The stock price rose 5% in after-hours trading.

Gap's "Better in Denim" campaign, which came out over the summer, featured the girl group Katseye dancing to "Milkshake" by Kelis and was an instant hit. The ad was also notable as it came during a denim ad war of sorts, with several brands releasing their own headline-making campaigns, including American Eagle and Lucky Brand.

Dickson said Gap's campaign especially helped attract Gen Z consumers, who he described as "highly engaged."

"Influencer content is among the most common product discovery methods amongst Gen Z and millennials, which we've been performing incredibly well with," he said.

He also said "collaborations are continuing to drive relevance and revenue," noting a recent collaboration with Sandy Liang that also drove younger consumers to Gap.

In addition to bridging the gap between generations, he said Gap was also attracting more high-income consumers with a strong competitive position "between premium and value."

Gap Inc.'s comparable sales grew by 5% compared to the year prior, the company said. For the Gap brand specifically, comparable sales were up 7% from the previous year, Katrina O'Connell, CFO of Gap Inc., said on the call.

Dickson said the company's solid performance for the quarter was fueled by "broad-based strength in denim," crediting the Katseye campaign several times during the call.

"It was the denim story everybody wanted to be part of," he said, adding, "This was a true cultural takeover. And I think it's another proof point in our playbook."

• Sean Duffy said 776 air traffic controllers would receive checks for working during the government shutdown.
• He said the $10,000 bonus checks would be given out in early December.
• "Santa's coming to town a little early," Duffy said in his X post.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said about 800 air traffic controllers who worked during the government shutdown would get $10,000 bonus checks.

Duffy said in an X post on Thursday night, "Santa's coming to town a little early."

"776 patriotic men and women will get $10K checks, just in time for Christmas," he added, specifying that the checks would go to rewarding people "for showing up to work EVERY DAY."

The video accompanying Duffy's post included a clip from the 2003 movie "Elf," as well as a clip of President Donald Trump saying air traffic controllers who worked without pay during the shutdown should be rewarded.

Duffy also said in the video that the checks would land in early December.

The 43-day government shutdown, the longest in US history, saw more than 13,000 air traffic controllers across the country working without pay, per a shutdown plan by the department on September 30.

Representatives for the department did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Duffy's announcement follows a similar one last week by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

On November 13, Noem said Transportation Security Administration officers who worked during the shutdown would get $10,000 bonus checks. She did not specify how many TSA officers would get these checks.

On November 11, Duffy said the department may penalize controllers who called in sick during the shutdown before missing their first paycheck.

"My concern is, for those air traffic controllers who, before they missed a paycheck, and were in the shutdown, they decided on a continual basis not to show up for work," Duffy said to reporters in Chicago last week, and said he questioned their "dedication" and "patriotism."

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association union told the Associated Press in a statement on Thursday that only 311 of its more than 10,000 members would receive the checks.

"We are concerned that thousands of air traffic controllers who consistently reported for duty during the shutdown, ensuring the safe transport of passengers and cargo across the nation, while working without pay and uncertain of when they would receive compensation, were excluded from this recognition," the union told the AP.

• Larry Summers is leaving his teaching role at Harvard.
• Earlier this week, Summers said he would step back from public life but continue to teach at Harvard.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged Harvard to sever ties with Summers over his connection to Epstein.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is leaving his role as an instructor at Harvard University after more ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein surfaced last week.

"His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching with them this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next semester," a spokesperson for Summers said in a statement on Thursday.

He will also go on leave from his role as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School as the university undertakes its review, the spokesperson added.

Summers taught economics at Harvard.

A Harvard spokesperson directed Business Insider to Summers' team for comment.

In a statement on Monday, Summers said that he was "deeply ashamed" of his actions and the pain they caused after emails showing his friendship with Epstein surfaced last week.

Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender known for his elite social circle. In 2019, he killed himself in jail before his trial for sex-trafficking charges, which prosecutors said involved underage girls. Epstein's social network over the years included prominent politicians and celebrities, including US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew.

The emails, showing years of personal correspondence between the two men, were released by the House Oversight Committee last week. They revealed that Summers, who was Treasury Secretary under Clinton and an advisor to Barack Obama, sought advice from Epstein on how he could romantically pursue a woman he called his mentee.

In a separate exchange, Summers suggested that women have a lower IQ than men. In 2005, similar remarks by Summers about women's aptitude in mathematics compared with men prompted a public outcry and his resignation as Harvard's president in 2006.

Summers had long been associated with Epstein. He flew on Epstein's private plane, according to flight logs obtained by Gawker in 2015, and appeared on Epstein's 2014 calendar, per scheduling emails obtained by Business Insider in 2023.

In Monday's statement, Summers said that he would step back from public commitments to "repair relationships with the people closest" to him.

In a TikTok posted on Tuesday on Tuesday, Summers appeared to speak to his students about the statement.

"I think it's very important to fulfill my teaching obligations," he told the students.

Summers' departure from his role at Harvard comes after Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Harvard to sever ties with him.

Warren, who spent nearly two decades teaching at Harvard Law School and previously sparred with Summers over economic policy, told CNN on Monday that Summers' relationship with Epstein "demonstrates monumentally bad judgment."

"If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein's sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation's politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else," she told CNN.

Warren's press secretary referred Business Insider to an X post that the senator shared on Wednesday.

"Larry Summers cozied up to the rich and powerful — including a convicted sex offender. He cannot be trusted in positions of influence," she wrote.

• The 74th annual Miss Universe pageant is taking place in Thailand on Friday morning local time.
• Former Miss Universe contestants have become famous after competing in the pageant.
• Some became actors and TV personalities, like Olivia Culpo and Gal Gadot.

Women from around the world have gathered in Thailand to compete for the most prestigious pageant title: Miss Universe.

The 74-year-old competition is considered to be a powerful stepping stone, helping many past contestants find fame — even if they didn't win the crown.

From reality TV to the big screen, here are some of the celebrities who have competed for Miss Universe.

Kenya Moore represented the United States at the 1993 Miss Universe pageant.

Moore won Miss USA while representing Michigan, becoming the second Black woman to ever win the pageant.

She placed in the top six at Miss Universe, while Dayanara Torres from Puerto Rico took home the crown.

After her Miss USA reign came to an end, Moore appeared on television shows like "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Living Single," but today, she's best known for her extensive career in reality television.

Moore was a longtime cast member on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," and she's appeared on other reality shows, including "The Apprentice" and "Dancing With the Stars."

Ali Landry competed at Miss Universe in 1996.

Landry won the Miss Louisiana and Miss USA pageants in 1996, earning her a spot at that year's Miss Universe competition.

Like Moore, she placed in the top six at the pageant but did not win. Alicia Machado of Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe that year.

Landry also pursued acting after her pageant career, gaining fame from appearing in a Doritos ad that aired during the 1999 Super Bowl and starring as Rita Lefleur on "EVE" from 2003 to 2006. She was also in the divisive 2023 film "Sound of Freedom."

Gal Gadot represented Israel when she competed in the Miss Universe pageant.

Gadot was crowned Miss Israel in 2004. She went on to compete for her home country at Miss Universe the same year, but she didn't place among the top 10 during the pageant. The Miss Universe crown went to Jennifer Hawkins of Australia.

After her Miss Israel win, Gadot enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces from 2004 to 2006 before she pursued a career in acting. As her IMDb page notes, Gadot's role as Gisele in 2009's "Fast and Furious" propelled her to fame. She's gone on to appear in American and Israeli films, most notably starring as the titular character in 2017's "Wonder Woman" and other films in the DC universe. She most recently appeared in Disney's live-action version of "Snow White."

Gadot also stirred up controversy in Hollywood in 2020 when she spearheaded a now-notorious video of celebrities singing "Imagine" at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Miss USA president Crystle Stewart competed at Miss Universe in 2008.

Stewart first gained fame when she won Miss USA in 2008 while representing Texas.

When she competed at Miss Universe that year, Stewart made it to the top 10 but fell during the evening gown round of the competition. Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela won the crown.

After her Miss USA win, Stewart went into acting, as her IMDb page notes. Her most notable role was Leslie Morris in the TBS and OWN series "For Better or Worse," which aired from 2011 to 2017.

Stewart returned to the pageant world in 2020, becoming president of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. She was suspended from her position in November 2022 after multiple contestants said the pageant was rigged in favor of R'Bonney Gabriel, who went on to win Miss Universe in January 2023.

An investigation found no evidence that the Miss USA pageant was fixed, but Miss Universe announced that Stewart was parting ways with the organization permanently in August 2023.

She is currently starring in Tyler Perry's Netflix series "Beauty in Black."

Olivia Culpo won the 2012 Miss Universe pageant.

Culpo became the first Miss USA to win Miss Universe in 15 years when she took the crown in 2012. She competed in her very first pageant, Miss Rhode Island USA, and then went on to win Miss USA and Miss Universe that same year.

She turned to Hollywood after her reign, appearing in films including "The Other Woman" with Cameron Diaz in 2014 and "I Feel Pretty" with Amy Schumer in 2018, according to her IMDb page.

In 2022, Culpo starred in the TLC reality show "The Culpo Sisters" with her family.

Culpo is now a successful Instagram influencer with more than 5 million followers. She is also married to the San Francisco 49ers player Christian McCaffrey. The couple welcomed their first child in July.

Catriona Gray represented the Philippines when she won Miss Universe in 2018.

Gray was already a decorated pageant queen before she won Miss Universe in 2018. She competed at Miss World 2016 for the Philippines, placing in the top five, and is the first Filipino to represent the country at both Miss World and Miss Universe.

Gray went viral during the Miss Universe 2018 pageant thanks to her "lava walk," which won praise from supermodels Tyra Banks and Ashley Graham. 

After her reign, Gray went on to host and perform on the Philippines musical variety show "Sunday Noontime Live!"

She has also been a backstage correspondent for the Miss Universe competition.

Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst ranked in the top 10 at Miss Universe.

Kryst won Miss USA in 2019 while representing North Carolina and placed in the top 10 at Miss Universe. Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa took home the crown and became Kryst's roommate in New York City that year.

Kryst and Tunzi helped make history, as 2019 was the first time Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss Universe, and Miss America had all been won by women of color.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kryst became the longest-reigning Miss USA titleholder in the pageant's history at 557 days.

Kryst was a complex-litigation attorney before her Miss USA reign and once helped free a client who had been sentenced to life in prison. She became a correspondent for "Extra" and received two Daytime Emmy nominations.

Kryst died on January 30, 2022, at the age of 30.

Noelia Voigt was crowned Miss USA 2023 and placed in the top 20 at Miss Universe.

Voigt won Miss USA in September 2023, where she competed as Miss Utah. She placed in the top 20 at Miss Universe, while R'Bonney Gabriel crowned Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua as the new queen.

Voigt was set to finish her tenure as Miss USA following the pageant, but in May 2024, she announced her resignation. Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava followed suit just two days later.

Voigt's and Srivastava's mothers told Business Insider at the time that their daughters were bullied by Laylah Rose, who was president and CEO of Miss USA from August 2023 to September 2025.

Representatives for Rose and Miss USA did not respond to a previous request for comment on the mothers' statements. However, Miss USA told ABC News at the time that it was "committed to fostering a healthy, communicative, and supportive environment for all contestants, state titleholders, national titleholders, and staff."

Voigt's resignation and the controversy surrounding the pageant were covered by news outlets worldwide, making her a household name. Voigt said Bella Hadid told her she was "inspired" by the pageant queen's decision to step down when they met at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

• "Wicked: For Good" is the sequel to "Wicked," a musical prequel to "The Wizard of Oz."
• Dorothy's adventure in Oz happens concurrently with the events in "Wicked: For Good."
• Here's what you need to know about how the two stories intersect.

Note: Major spoilers ahead for "Wicked" and minor spoilers for "Wicked: For Good."

Last year's musical blockbuster "Wicked" was clearly presented as a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," but its sequel, "Wicked: For Good," overlaps heavily with Dorothy's adventures in Munchkinland and the Emerald City.

The 1939 film starring Judy Garland and other interpretations of Oz, such as the '70s-era musical "The Wiz," are based on the original book by Frank L. Baum, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," written in 1900.

However, the Broadway show "Wicked" and its two-part film adaptation starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West."

Maguire's novel reframes the plot of the original book and classic film. Instead of focusing on Dorothy, Maguire shifts the perspective to that of her antagonist, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Elphaba, as she's christened by Maguire, is the hero of this version; her backstory reveals trauma and noble intentions that contextualize her treatment of Dorothy. Meanwhile, Maguire rewrites Glinda, aka the Good Witch of the North, to follow a muddier, more complicated character arc.

The stage adaptation of Maguire's book has been a resounding success. Since its debut in 2003, "Wicked" has become the second-highest-grossing Broadway show, selling over a billion tickets.

Continue reading to understand how "The Wizard of Oz," "Wicked," and "Wicked: For Good" dovetail on a timeline.

'Wicked' starts at the end of 'The Wizard of Oz,' after Dorothy melts the witch

"Wicked" closely follows the first act of the Broadway musical. The movie opens on a puddle of water and a witch hat lying on the floor of a castle, hinting at the events in "The Wizard of Oz."

In the opening sequence, the camera briefly pans over Dorothy and her crew — the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion — following the yellow brick road as a winged monkey soars over Oz.

The next scene shows Glinda arriving in Munchkinland to confirm the rumors: "The Wicked Witch of the West is dead," she announces. The subsequent celebration is soundtracked by the musical's opening number, "No One Mourns the Wicked."

Glinda doesn't explain exactly what happened, but those familiar with "The Wizard of Oz" will remember the fateful scene when Dorothy accidentally splashes the witch with a bucket of water. ("I'm melting! I'm melting!")

After the Wicked Witch has vanished, Dorothy brings her broom to the all-powerful Wizard in Emerald City, in hopes of exchanging it for a trip back to Kansas. Instead, the literal man behind the curtain is revealed.

The Wizard admits he has no real power to help Dorothy and flies away in a hot air balloon, so Glinda steps in to help. She tells Dorothy that thanks to her magic slippers — taken from the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East — all she has to do is click her heels and chant, "There's no place like home."

Dorothy follows her advice and wakes up back in Kansas. This is presumably when Glinda travels to Munchkinland (via bubble, of course) to spread the word of the witch's demise. There, she's confronted by a Munchkin, who asks, "Is it true you were her friend?"

Glinda admits, "Our paths did cross at school," and it is here that the real story of "Wicked" begins.

Part one of 'Wicked' is Elphaba's origin story

As Glinda knows, the Wicked Witch's real name is Elphaba Thropp. The movie flashes back to when the two girls met at Shiz University.

At that time, Glinda was still known as Galinda Upland, and Elphaba was a bullied outcast with budding magical powers — not yet feared, and certainly not seen as evil.

The movie shows how Elphaba was ostracized from birth due to her green skin. Even Galinda, who had a reputation for being sweet and popular, took part in shunning her.

The movie also shows how Galinda lacked any hints of magic, despite her dream of studying sorcery at school under Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).

Although "Wicked" focuses heavily on Elphaba's inner life, her family dynamics (especially with her younger sister, Nessarose, played by Marissa Bode), and her ambitions, the movie also delves into the rivalry-turned-friendship between Elphaba and Galinda.

On a fluke, the two students are paired as roommates and forced to coexist. On the surface, they couldn't be more different — but what begins as unadulterated loathing (seriously, there's a whole song about it) blossoms into an earnest bond of love and respect.

Eventually, the pair travels to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), hoping to leverage his and Elphaba's combined power for positive change.

But Elphaba is disgusted to find that the Wizard has no magic, and as a means of controlling the Ozians, he has made talking animals the scapegoats for all the realm's ills.

Elphaba is staunchly opposed to the subjugation of Oz's animals, so she becomes an enemy of the state.

The first "Wicked" movie ends with a climactic performance of "Defying Gravity." Elphaba flees on her broom, sacred spellbook in hand, while Glinda (who has by now dropped the "a" in her name) is detained by royal guards.

'Wicked: For Good' shows how Dorothy's story overlaps with Elphaba's and Glinda's

Like Act Two of the Broadway show, the "Wicked" sequel opens after an unspecified time jump. Elphaba is still in exile, while Glinda has now allied with the Wizard and with Morrible, who works as the Wizard's press secretary and his primary propagandist.

Meanwhile, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) has become Captain of the Emerald City Guard, and Nessarose has stepped in as Governor of Munchkinland after the death of her and Elphaba's father.

The Wizard and Morrible are laser-focused on finding Elphaba, who's been messing up their plans by freeing enslaved animals across Oz.

After Glinda realizes Fiyero, her fiancé, has secretly been in love with Elphaba the whole time, she acts out of heartbreak and spite, suggesting to her superiors that they use Nessarose as bait to capture Elphaba — to threaten Nessarose's safety so that her sister will rush to her aid.

Morrible has the power to control the weather, so she decides to send a tornado toward Munchkinland — the same tornado that sweeps through Kansas in "The Wizard of Oz." Thus, Dorothy and her house drop into the narrative.

Dorothy pops up throughout 'Wicked: For Good,' but she's not a main character in the film

For over 85 years, Dorothy has been famous for dropping a house on the Wicked Witch of the East and melting the Wicked Witch of the West. Audiences know going into see "Wicked: For Good" that she plays a big role in the fates of key characters.

So, if you're wondering how Dorothy's arrival figures into the film's grand musical numbers and emotional onscreen revelations, the answer may surprise you: For the most part, it doesn't.

By this point in the story, both Glinda and Elphaba are dealing with plenty of personal drama. They hardly have the bandwidth to worry about some farm girl who fell out of the sky — and the film's director, John M. Chu, decided to play up their indifference. In fact, the audience never even gets a look at Dorothy's face.

"I didn't want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with," Chu told People. "[This] is still Elphaba and Glinda's journey, and she is a pawn in the middle of all of it."

Grande made a similar choice in her portrayal of Glinda, delighting in the "shadiness" of their offscreen interactions. After all, the so-called Good Witch famously tells Dorothy to "follow the yellow brick road," knowing full well she could take a train to the Emerald City. She also instructs Dorothy to ask for the Wizard's help, knowing full well the Wizard has no magic.

"There's a lot going on, and she doesn't really have time to deal with this," Grande told Empire. "So I leaned all the way into Glinda sort of having an eye roll for Dorothy whenever she has to deal with her."

Ayomikun Adekaiyero contributed to an earlier version of this story.