Young people are finding dating apps more appealing after watching paid influencers on TikTok share their experiences, per Tinder's recent brand sentiment study shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: The marketing strategy comes after reports that Gen Z and Millennials are not interested in swiping and are instead seeking in-person alternatives, negatively impacting Tinder parent Match Group's business.
Why it matters: The company updated its passenger "contract of carriage" on Thursday to include examples of the clothing– or lack thereof – that is forbidden.
Venture Global, the second largest liquified gas exporter in the U.S., raised about $1.8 billion in an IPO valuing it at $67.4 billion — some 45% below its expected valuation.
Why it matters: The company and bankers dramatically miscalculated the market, overestimating the natural gas Trump bump.
Blackstone-backed IDG is nearing a deal to sell Foundry, its division that runs publications like PCWorld and Macworld, to private equity firm Regent, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The expected sale comes amid an uptick of ad tech, marketing tech, and digital content deals as companies seek to consolidate the fragmented market.
The Elon Musk-Sam Altman feud entered a new hot phase this week on X following President Trump's announcement of Stargate, a new $500 billion AI infrastructure joint venture funded in part by OpenAI, the AI giant Altman leads.
Why it matters: Musk's public questioning of the financial strength of a venture that Trump had just blessed from the White House marked the first public sign that the "First Buddy's" relationship with the president might be turning rocky.
The Securities and Exchange Commission reversed a controversial accounting rule Thursday, which had helped deter banks from participating in crypto services.
Why it matters: The move to rescind the guidance, known as SAB 121, comes as Wall Street prepares to expand their digital asset businesses in light of a changing regulatory landscape under President Trump.
This is no longer a rumored collaboration: Graeter's Ice Cream and Skyline Chili have launched a limited-edition "Skyline Spice" ice cream.
The big picture: The two Ohio-based companies announced the collaboration Friday, which they describe as "sweet, savory, and unlike anything ice cream or chili lovers have tasted before."
Frontier Direct Care, a worksite primary care provider for self-funded employers, is seeking investors for the rest of its $20 million Series B, CEO Bibb Beale tells Axios.
Why it matters: Roughly 70% of large employers that offer health insurance are self-insured.
About half of U.S. adults have an unfavorable view of Elon Musk, and an even larger sharedisapprove of President Trump relying on advice from billionaires to shape government policy, per new AP-NORC poll data.
Why it matters: Musk is playing a central role in the Trump administration with the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he has promised will revolutionize the U.S. government. But Americans are far from sold on the initiative and its leader.
The attack on DEI from the Trump administration could set back recent progress for disabled workers, particularly within the federal workforce, according to advocates and legal experts.
Why it matters: People with disabilities face obstacles in landing jobs, but their employment rates soared in the wake of the pandemic as remote work became more common.
Whatever Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was supposed to be, on Monday it apparently took a new form altogether — a federal office with deep influence over the government's digital infrastructure.
Why it matters: Once explicitly envisioned as an out-of-government vehicle to cut $2 trillion from the budget, slash federal jobs, reduce waste and streamline bureaucracy, DOGE is instead starting with an apparent pivot to Musk's bread-and-butter: software development.
Data center work is a burgeoning field in parts of the American Southeast and elsewhere, but raw job numbers aren't generally much to write home about yet.
He returned this week seeming to downplay that threat — signaling a potential thaw in relations between the world's two leading superpowers.
Why it matters: The stakes are enormous. How Trump deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the next four years will have sweeping implications for the global economy, AI, climate change, national security and more.
