Las Vegas closed out its first Formula One Grand Prix in four decades over the weekend — the latest sign of the city's desire to become the "sports and entertainment capital of the world."
Why it matters: Construction to accommodate the event, which transformed part of the Strip into a track for vehicles racing over 200 miles an hour, disrupted the lives of locals for nearly a year.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino is defending the social media company despite marketing leaders pushing for her to resign, while ignoring their key complaint on Elon Musk's conduct.
Driving the news: Yaccarino on Monday expressed her commitment to X in a post on the platform.
Why it matters: The employees threatened to move to the new Microsoft research unit that Altman will build: "We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign."
OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who led a board rebellion at the company to force out CEO Sam Altman, now says he "deeply regret[s] my participation in the board's actions."
Why it matters: More than 500 of OpenAI's 700-plus employees threatened to resign in an open letter if Sutskever and other board members do not step down.
A crypto exchange run by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley has acquired crypto media publication CoinDesk.
Driving the news: CoinDesk is staying in the crypto family.
CoinDesk is the most well-known crypto news outlet and will now become a subsidiary to a little-known exchange named Bullish.
Of note: Farley's Bullish is currently unavailable to investors in Canada, China, Japan, and the U.S.
Details: Bullish said in a press release on Monday that CoinDesk's current management team will stay on and that the news publication will launch an editorial committee chaired by Matt Murray, the former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal.
Bullish is buying the publication from Digital Currency Group, the firm founded by Barry Silbert that also owns Grayscale Investments as well as a smattering of other crypto companies.
The price tag, and other deal terms, were not disclosed.
Flashback 1: An earlier $125 million deal for CoinDesk led by Matthew Roszak of crypto-focused investment firm Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of VC fell through.
Flashback 2: Bullish is no stranger to canceled plans.
The company's SPAC-merger made news with its stacked cast of backers that included prominent investors Peter Thiel's Founders Fund as well as hedge fund manager Louis Bacon — only to be called off in Dec. 2022.
What we're watching: Silbert's DCG has been on the ropes, with one of its subsidiaries mired in bankruptcy proceedings, which was hit with a civil fraud case by the New York Attorney General alongside the parent company.
Expect Equity, a new incubator for hedge funds led by underrepresented managers, has raised $55 million (out of a $100 million target) for its first fund.
Why it matters: "Excellence is broadly distributed, capital is not," as the saying goes, Expect Equity founder Hallie Label told Axios.
When the nonprofit OpenAI started selling shares in a potentially world-changing for-profit subsidiary, the tensions between the two were clear to see.
Why it matters: Those tensions erupted over the weekend into a full-scale governance crisis, as the board of the governing nonprofit fired the CEO, Sam Altman, over what Axios' Scott Rosenberg has described as "a deep cultural rift" within the organization.
Airbnb will announce Monday that Ron Klain — former White House chief of staff, and one of Washington's best-connected Democrats — will join the company as chief legal officer on Jan. 1.
Why it matters: It's a surprise twist for the storied career of Klain, who remains a confidant of President Biden, with a big behind-the-scenes voice in his re-election campaign.
Thousands of travelers could find themselves behind the wheel of a rented electric vehicle (EV) for the first time this holiday season — whether they chose to rent one or not.
Why it matters: Companies like Hertz and Avis have beefed up their EV fleets and are offering them at substantial discounts over traditional models.
OpenAI's board has hired Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear as its interim CEO, a source familiar with the matter told Axios.
Why it matters: The move gives the ChatGPT maker its third CEO in three days and means that ousted former CEO Sam Altman, who'd been in weekend-long talks with the board, will not be returning. Instead, the pair are heading to Microsoft to lead a new research unit.
Lachlan Murdoch, who last week succeeded his father Rupert as chairman of both Fox Corp. and News Corp., over the weekend traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Fox News remains the most powerful source of information for Republicans, a majority of whom have soured on continuing to fund Ukraine's war with Russia.
An extreme heat wave that's sweeping Brazil is setting daily and monthly records, and causing spring temperatures to soar to levels that would even be unusually hot during mid-summer in some areas.
The big picture: The death of a woman at a Taylor Swift concert at which firefighters said 1,000 fans fainted in searing Rio de Janeiro heat Friday comes as the National Institute of Meteorology warns that Brazilians face "great danger" from this extreme weather event.
Brand chiefs and marketing leaders have reached out to X CEO Linda Yaccarino to push her to resign, sources told Axios.
Why it matters: "The issue is no longer about content adjacencies or content moderation. It's simply that the owner is not someone marketers can do business with," said Lou Paskalis, founder & CEO of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory and former head of global media at Bank of America.
