Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

May 8, 2017 - Economy & Business

Coach acquiring Kate Spade for $2.4B

John Minchillo / AP

Coach Inc. is buying Kate Spade for $2.4 billion, per Reuters.

The deal: Kate Spade announced it was considering a sale in February since it wasn't achieving competitive profit margins. Coach said it expects to work out $50 million in savings over three years from the deal.
The millennial appeal: Kate Spade's brightly colored handbags are popular with millennials, which could help Coach's position in the crowded market.
The trend: Coach bought luxury shoe brand Stuart Weitzman in 2015 after a failed attempt to create a new brand, Reed Krakoff. Coach reported strong earnings in Q3 of 2016, indicating this strategy of acquiring luxury brands might be working (compare that to Michael Kors, which decided to sell higher quality bags to remedy its dip in sales). Analysts are saying Coach's next move could be a buyout of Burburry or Jimmy Choo.

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Mike Allen, author of AM

58 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Biden's "overwhelming force" doctrine

President-elect Biden arrives to introduce his science team in Wilmington yesterday. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President-elect Biden has ordered up a shock-and-awe campaign for his first days in office to signal, as dramatically as possible, the radical shift coming to America and global affairs, his advisers tell us.

The plan, Part 1 ... Biden, as detailed in a "First Ten Days" memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain, plans to unleash executive orders, federal powers and speeches to shift to a stark, national plan for "100 million shots" in three months.

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Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu

3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Off the Rails

Episode 2: Barbarians at the Oval

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. This Axios series takes you inside the collapse of a president.

Episode 2: Trump stops buying what his professional staff are telling him, and increasingly turns to radical voices telling him what he wants to hear. Read episode 1.

President Trump plunked down in an armchair in the White House residence, still dressed from his golf game — navy fleece, black pants, white MAGA cap. It was Saturday, Nov. 7. The networks had just called the election for Joe Biden.

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Sara Fischer, Kyle Daly

3 hours ago - Technology

Fringe right plots new attacks out of sight

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Domestic extremists are using obscure and private corners of the internet to plot new attacks ahead of Inauguration Day. Their plans are also hidden in plain sight, buried in podcasts and online video platforms.

Why it matters: Because law enforcement was caught flat-footed during last week's Capitol siege, researchers and intelligence agencies are paying more attention to online threats that could turn into real-world violence.

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