1 big thing: EV prices make wrong turn

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2. Charted: Online bargains

3. What's happening

4. M&A heats up in gaming

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5. A legend moves on

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6. What they're saying

😩 Busy Tuesday? We've got it covered for you.

Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 681 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.4%.

Biggest gainer? Nielsen (+21.2%), after saying its largest shareholder was in talks to join its takeover consortium.

Biggest decliner? Norwegian Cruise Line (-10.6%), on disappointing shareholder results and occupancy rates that spooked investors.

Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing today's (and every day's) newsletter.

National

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green

Catch up on the day's biggest business stories and look ahead to important trends. Led by Hope King and Nathan Bomey.

Axios Closer

1 big thing: Supply chain relief

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2. Charted: Tech's slowdown to slow down tech even further

4. New driverless taxi milestone

5. Our own news

🌯 That's a wrap on Monday. And we have "some personal news" as they say...

Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 691 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.1%.

Biggest gainer? Penn Entertainment (+5.6%). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Biggest decliner? Tyson Foods (-8.4%), on disappointing quarterly earnings and warnings of falling demand for high-priced beef.

1 big thing: Gaming’s big struggles

Illustration of a video game controller with sports-related buttons

2. Charted: One word — plastics

4. Activist targets the Gray Lady

5. What we learned from the teary CEO selfie

🤸‍♀️ Thursday is winding down. Let's review...

Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 678 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed flat (0.1%).

Biggest gainer? Devon Energy (+7.3%), following a report from the International Energy Agency that raised its oil-demand outlook.

Biggest decliner? Enphase Energy (-3.4%), which makes solar-based energy solutions, possibly in contrast to the same report.

1 big thing: Big screen, big profit hopes

2. Charted: Long-term joblessness dwindles

4. Amazon buying spree continues

5. Inflation claims a beloved Maine pie shop

Illustration of a pie with a dollar bill on the crust

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed down 0.2%, with markets unsure of whether to cheer or cry about the blockbuster July payroll report.

Biggest gainer? Constellation Energy Corp. (+10.1%) after posting better-than-expected results for its second quarter. 

Biggest decliner? Warner Bros. Discovery (-16.5%) — see below.

Today's newsletter, edited by Javier E. David, is 642 words, a 2.5-minute read.

Thanks to Patricia Guadalupe for copy editing today's newsletter.

1 big thing: Food prices miss the memo

Illustration of a dollar sign on a grocery store checkout conveyor belt.

2. Bonus chart: Ingredients of food inflation

4. Disney surpasses Netflix in global paid subscribers

5. There's now a Paris in the metaverse

6. Today's thought bubble

🐪 It's hump day, and you're over it! Here's what's happened...

Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 641 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 2.1% as investors cheered a soft inflation report.

Biggest gainer? Norwegian Cruise Line (+12.1%), erasing yesterday's losses following its second-quarter results.

Biggest decliner? CME Group (-2.2%). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pent-up demand for real world fun took business away from companies that crank out digital gaming.

Why it matters: The slowdown is expected to continue as consumers continue to adjust how they spend amid high inflation and worries of economic slow downs, industry leaders warn.

Driving the news: The reopening,” Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said in late July, is one factor gaming software sales declined 25% in the company's latest quarter, its fiscal q1.

Take-Two Interactive’s CEO admitted on Monday the company is seeing consumer “softness.”

“If you are feeling the pinch of inflation … you could imagine that if you’re playing [a] game, you might choose to spend a bit less [in it] or spend a bit less frequently,” Strauss Zelnick told investors.

In contrast: Roblox’s CEO David Baszucki dismissed concerns about more potentially negative impacts to its business from inflation or a recession and tried to paint the company as an emerging necessary communication service on a call with analysts.

"We're not a game and we're not really even a game platform. We're a future human co-experience platform," he said.

Yes, but: Roblox, the virtual gaming platform popular with kids and teens, reported that it added about 1 million fewer new users in the second quarter than analysts expected.

A key industry metric which includes recognized and unrecognized revenue also fell 4% from last year, the company reported on Tuesday.

The big picture: Gaming companies have been considered recession proof, Bloomberg notes, but that no longer seems to be true.

Our thought bubble from Axios Gaming's Stephen Totilo: The gaming sector was always going to cool a bit following the surge of the pandemic. Analysts expect growth to resume, but a couple of key factors are worth watching.

COVID-19 wreaked havoc with the development cycles around games, as teams struggled to adapt to remote and hybrid work. That's resulted in an inordinate amount of major game delays, a fairly sparse release calendar for this holiday but the likelihood of a loaded 2023.

More and more games are designed to be played for free, with players tempted to spend extra as they play. So if discretionary spending drops but playtime stays high, the industry is betting those players will eventually resume spending--or will they learn to be content with playing for free, as most already do?

Virtual worlds are no match for inflation and the real world

Pent-up demand for real world fun is taking business away from companies that crank out digital gaming.

Earnings

Pent-up demand for real world fun took business away from companies that crank out digital gaming.Why it matters: The slowdown is expected to continue as consumers continue to adjust how they spend amid high inflation and worries of economic slow downs, industry leaders warn.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Self-driving taxis without safety supervisors are now approved for roads in Wuhan and Chongqing in China.

Why it matters: The vehicles, operated by parent company Baidu, are the first-ever fully driverless licensed robotaxis in China, according to the FT.

Details: Five taxis in each city will operate during business hours of around 9am to 5pm.

The service areas will cover just about 5 square miles in Wuhan and 12 square miles in Chongqing.

For context: Wuhan is about 3,300 square miles in size and Chongqing is about 32,000 square miles.

Of note: Driverless taxis have already been on roads in China, but with safety supervisors inside.

Baidu, specifically, wants to double the number of robotaxis it has on roads to 600 by the end of this year, the company tells Bloomberg, as it shifts toward making autonomous driving tech and AI.

The big picture: While there's been plenty of global hype for autonomous vehicles, the business case isn't cheap nor easy. 

The cars themselves cost over $100,000. Regulation has only just begun. Safety issues are still a major concern. And testing (and teaching) the vehicles must be done block by block. 

What to watch: Experts say that autonomous systems will change the entire auto industry.

Robotaxis, which are already in use in parts of San Francisco and Phoenix in the U.S., specifically are seen by some proponents as a way to increase accessibility of more affordable transportation. 

Fully self-driving taxis approved for two major Chinese cities

The vehicles, operated by parent company Baidu, are the first-ever fully driverless licensed robo-taxis in China, FT reports.

two driverless cars from Baidu shown on roads of Beijing

Two Baidu Apollo Go's commercialized autonomous robotaxis in Beijing in November 2021. Photo:  VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Autonomous vehicles

Self-driving taxis without safety supervisors are now approved for roads in Wuhan and Chongqing in China.Why it matters: The vehicles, operated by parent company Baidu, are the first-ever fully driverless licensed robotaxis in China, according to the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="FT" data-vars-click-url="https://www.ft.com/content/22583bbe-29c2-4348-aac9-29f5d7c75bea" data-vars-content-id="276de400-72cc-42b5-8976-36d48cebb70a" data-vars-headline="Fully self-driving taxis approved for two major Chinese cities" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.ft.com/content/22583bbe-29c2-4348-aac9-29f5d7c75bea" target="_blank">FT</a>.

Image credit Data: SoftBank earnings report; Chart: Kavya Beheraj/Axios

Tech's rout sent SoftBank's Vision Fund deep into the red last quarter.

Driving the news: The 5-year-old technology investment fund posted a $21.7 billion (2.9 trillion Japanese yen) loss — its second-biggest quarterly loss ever.

Why it matters: Global economic challenges are overpowering the optimism of one of the biggest check writers in venture capital, threatening the growth of emerging tech companies.

"For new investments, we have to be more selective," SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son told analysts this morning. 

By the numbers: SoftBank's Vision Funds approved some $600 million worth of investments for the three month period ending June, Axios Pro's Lucinda Shen noted.

That's down from $20.6 billion in the same time last year and from $2.4 billion in the first three months of this year.

What to watch: Costs, including staff size, "may need to be reduced dramatically," the company said.

Softbank to cut costs "dramatically" amid continuing losses

Global economic challenges are overpowering the optimism of one of the biggest check writers in venture capital.

Softbank Group

Tech&#x27;s rout sent SoftBank&#x27;s Vision Fund deep into the red last quarter.Driving the news: The 5-year-old technology investment fund posted a $21.7 billion (2.9 trillion Japanese yen) loss — its second-biggest quarterly loss ever.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

A CEO's post about his own feelings from a recent round of layoffs, which featured a selfie of him with tear-stained eyes, has gone viral on LinkedIn.

Why it matters: There's been a growing number of CEOs posting about company layoffs on the professional networking platform, according to LinkedIn.

"They’re being more transparent than ever on their take on business trends, sensitive company news, and their own advice on leading," Andrei Santalo, LinkedIn's Head of Community Management, previously told Axios Communicators author Eleanor Hawkins.

Catch up quick: "I just want people to see, that not every CEO out there is cold-hearted and doesn't care when he/she have to lay people off," Braden Wallake of Hypersocial wrote in a post earlier this week.

The post generated more than 41,000 reactions and comments in two days, ranging mostly from support and empathy to bewilderment and disgust.

The big picture: The post comes amid (and refers to) an increase in layoff announcements in the U.S. — with executives frequently citing "macroeconomic" challenges and uncertainties among reasons. 

There was a 36% increase in announced job cuts in July compared to last year, recent data from outplacement firm Challenger Gray shows. 

In Wallake's post, he said specifically that his "few" layoffs were due to his own mistakes.

"And because of those failings, I had to do today, the toughest thing I've ever had to do," he said. 

Among the most popular comments to his post: "Why not decrease your own salary/overall comp in order to keep your employees?" one person wrote.

"This is to gain sympathy I am assuming, which in itself is wrong, as the sympathy should be with those let go ... It's not about you," wrote another. 

Wallake himself responded to the backlash: "[M]y intent was not to make it about me or victimize myself. I am sorry it came across that way," he wrote Wednesday.

"What I want to do now, is try to make better of this situation and start a thread for people looking for work," he added — echoing some of the comments saying he could use this viral moment to do some good.

Of note: Wallake's company HyperSocial specializes in helping businesses grow through LinkedIn content. 

Which leads us to this thought bubble: It doesn't matter what any of us, including his employees, thinks about his post. He knew exactly what he was doing — the CEO equivalent of Gal Gadot singing to soothe people during the pandemic.

Crying CEO selfie goes viral on LinkedIn, sparks debate on messaging

A growing number of CEOs are posting about company layoffs on the professional networking platform, according to LinkedIn.

Social media

A CEO&#x27;s post about his own feelings from a recent round of layoffs, which featured a selfie of him with <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="tear-stained eyes" data-vars-click-url="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6962886723617910784/" data-vars-content-id="5101e6b3-6b98-4b13-b206-e120dbf1077a" data-vars-headline="Crying CEO selfie goes viral on LinkedIn, sparks debate on messaging" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6962886723617910784/" target="_blank">tear-stained eyes</a>, has gone viral on LinkedIn.Why it matters: There&#x27;s been a growing number of CEOs posting about company layoffs on the professional networking platform, according to LinkedIn.

Artificial intelligence has seeped into many creative trades — from urban planning to translations to painting. The latest: visualizations in journalism.

Why it matters: Computers are getting better at doing what humans can do, including creating art from scratch. But design is much more than mashing together some known shapes on top of a color background.

Artists interpret and convey abstract stories through a single image that not only has to grab someone's attention, but also stand the test of time.

Case in point: Brian Rumao, managing director at Next Play Ventures, posted a sample on Twitter using an AI image generation tool from Open AI called Dall-E 2 to try to reproduce a couple Axios visuals, to some success (see sample below).

The image on the center-left was created after inputting "a long black chain-link fence with barbed-wire dollar-signs on top, against a yellow background" into the tool, Rumao noted.

Screenshot of two tweets featuring Axios Visuals beside similar Dall-e composites 

The post generated a lot of internal discussion among the 23 visual journalists at Axios.

This led to the question: What is the difference between an editorial illustration developed by a human being and a visual composite generated by AI?

The big picture: Digital art generated from new AI systems like Midjourney and OpenAI's Dall-E 2 have prompted a lot of newsroom discussions, especially as the Dall-E 2 website explicitly mentions using the tool to generate newsletter art.

On the one hand: Machine-learning platforms can create photo composites from inputs to mimic fine art, photography or illustration. 

On the other hand: Editorial illustration requires a level of conceptualization, visual metaphor and story connection that these kinds of tools currently can't replicate. 

How it works: At Axios, illustrators begin by pinpointing key ideas from a story.

Next, they conceptualize visual representations of the themes.

Then they brainstorm how to tie the themes together to create a metaphor.

After producing several mockups, illustrators often select a version that's quickest to read — or one that's "reader first" — that conveys an idea at first glance.

An example: A story about two health care startups merging might prompt an illustrator to depict "digital," "health" and "merger" — the key elements of the story — using symbols that represent each. 

The final version might be two syringes tied together with an ethernet cable.

One issue is that AI technology can be prone to encoded biases. While people also are influenced by their biases, they can take steps to overcome these.

Editorial journalists are trained to consider these issues, and by encouraging conversations inside a diverse newsroom, they can see possible problematic interpretations of a visual.

People can also follow the evolution of language closely, and how those changes should be reflected visually. They can watch for tropes and guard against overused symbolism.

What to watch: For now, AI like Dall-E 2 is incapable of replicating the creative problem-solving process required to create successful editorial illustrations.

They are, however, turning out to be powerful tools to generate colors, ideas, patterns, textures, or mood boards for larger projects.

AI-generated digital art spurs debate about news illustrations

AI digital art may be improving — but hasn't replicated the creative problem-solving process needed for newsrooms.

Illustration of a artist's pallet with drops of paint in the shape of binary code 

Artificial intelligence

Automation and AI

Artificial intelligence has seeped into many creative trades — from<a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text=" urban planning" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/08/03/artist-ai-dall-e-urban-design" data-vars-content-id="7f6026c1-80b2-4a8d-9b02-b5f34e9f8677" data-vars-headline="AI-generated digital art spurs debate about news illustrations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/08/03/artist-ai-dall-e-urban-design" target="_self"> urban planning</a> to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="translations" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/06/facebook-ai-translator-200-languages" data-vars-content-id="7f6026c1-80b2-4a8d-9b02-b5f34e9f8677" data-vars-headline="AI-generated digital art spurs debate about news illustrations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/06/facebook-ai-translator-200-languages" target="_self">translations</a> to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="painting" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/04/08/robotic-artist-ai-artificial-intelligence-artwork" data-vars-content-id="7f6026c1-80b2-4a8d-9b02-b5f34e9f8677" data-vars-headline="AI-generated digital art spurs debate about news illustrations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/04/08/robotic-artist-ai-artificial-intelligence-artwork" target="_self">painting</a>. The latest: visualizations in journalism.Why it matters: Computers are getting better at doing what humans can do, including creating art from scratch. But design is much more than mashing together some known shapes on top of a color background.

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Stories

Crying CEO selfie goes viral on LinkedIn, sparks debate on messaging

Virtual worlds are no match for inflation and the real world

AI-generated digital art spurs debate about news illustrations

Softbank to cut costs "dramatically" amid continuing losses

Fully self-driving taxis approved for two major Chinese cities

Newsletter editions

🎮 Gaming slowdown

🐭 Disney surpasses Netflix

🔌 EV price spikes

🚗 New robotaxi milestone

🦇 Warner's "Batgirl" debacle