Keanu Reeves and the makers of "John Wick" were desperate for financing.
That's when "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria stepped in.
Driving the news: The director of the Wick franchise told Business Insider in a new interview for the 10th anniversary of the first Wick film that Longoria provided critical gap financing.
"Literally less than 24 hours before we had to lock the doors on the movie and walk away, [our producer] said, 'We've got the investor, we've locked the gap,'" Chad Stahelski said.
Another intriguing tidbit from the interview: Financiers initially didn't want Reeves to have a beard because they thought the clean-shaven look would perform better internationally.
Fast-food chains are rushing to pull raw onions from their meals this week as part of a still-expanding E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald's Quarter Pounders.
Why it matters: McDonald's and others are in the midst of trying to win back customers. They can't afford another reason for diners to pass them over.
Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries pleaded not guilty on Friday to 16 counts of sex trafficking and international prostitution in Central Islip, New York, multipleoutletsreported.
The big picture: Jeffries and two other men were arrested earlier this week for allegedly running a trafficking operation from 2008 to 2015 that coerced young men. Those arrested spent millions to support and cover it up, the indictment said.
Yum! Brands confirmed to Axios that it has removed fresh onions from select Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants as it monitors a multistate E. coli outbreak.
Why it matters: The company said the move was "out of an abundance of caution" and done proactively.
Antitrust scrutiny isn't slowing Alphabet down. The search giant led a $5.6 billion Series C in self-driving car company Waymo announced on Friday, with a16z, Fidelity, Perry Creek, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price also participating.
Why it matters: This is Waymo's largest ever round, and it ranks among the largest VC rounds ever.
A federal judge sided with the FTC Thursday, blocking Tapestry's $8.5 billion bid to acquire Michael Kors and Versace owner Capri. The news sent Capri's stock down 47% in early trading Friday.
Why it matters: It's a reminder that the FTC can go after sectors that may be considered discretionary goods.
Scout Motors, Volkswagen's new electric off-road vehicle brand, said its first models will be available with a backup gasoline generator — an acknowledgment of many Americans' anxiety about going fully electric.
Why it matters: As a bit of a latecomer to the EV market, Scout has the advantage of learning from the mistakes of other companies that made big bets on electrification, only to walk back their EV ambitions amid slower-than-expected sales.
The stark disparity between how prediction markets and political analysts view the 2024 presidential election is casting a spotlight on an increasingly influential but still poorly understood force in politics: betting.
Why it matters: Prediction markets — like Kalshi, PredictIt and Polymarket — give Donald Trump a much better shot to win the U.S. presidency, leading some observers to suggest that if Kamala Harris prevails, it will represent a failure of the market's predictive power.
Elon Musk's super PAC announced two lottery winners Thursday in its daily $1 million giveaway, defying a warning from the Justice Department.
Why it matters: The winners of the $1 million prizes are the first to be announced since news broke that the DOJ hadsent a letter notifying America PAC, Musk's pro-Trump group, that its lottery could violate federal law against paying people to register to vote, per multipleoutlets.
Friday morning the Democratic National Committee launched an ad campaign to get out the union vote, placing billboards near union halls and factories in battleground states.
Why it matters: The union vote is critical in the election and it's very much in play.
Elon Musk— the world's richest man and a major contractor to the U.S. government — "has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022," The Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Musk's conversations could foreshadow U.S. reengagement with Putin if former President Trump wins the White House, given "Trump's expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine," The Journal notes.
Meta has struck a multi-year deal with Reuters to use its news content to provide real-time answers to user queries about news and current events in its Meta AI chatbot, sources familiar with the agreement told Axios.
Why it matters: It's the first news deal Meta has brokered in the AI era.
