Axios

Viacom announced it will increase investment in its flagship brands, which signals its efforts to assure pay TV providers, like Comcast and DirectTV, they can count on business with Viacom, per an earnings call today. The flagships include BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., and Paramount.

Quick take: This is a strategic bet for the entertainment company. Ad revenues and ratings were both down for the TV side of the company's operations, but Viacom says the diverse audiences of those six networks have ample reach and distribution potential across platforms.

Tapping into film: Viacom will be funneling those networks into its success with film — theatrical revenues grew by 104%. The six brands will contribute one or two movies to build on this strength.

How will this affect viewer experience? This will likely make it more difficult to view shows like "The Daily Show" a day after they aired on services like Hulu, per ReCode. This is because it will be turning more to pay TV providers to rake in the dough.

Jason Chaffetz, the House Oversight Chair, said today a "White House aide's promotion" of Ivanka Trump's brand was "clearly over the line" and "unacceptable", per AP. Although Chaffetz did not name Kellyanne Conway directly, it was clear he was referring to her Fox News appearance this morning.

When asked about the ethics of Conway's comments in his White House briefing today, Sean Spicer said that Conway has been "counseled on that subject... that's it."

Ant Financial, an affiliate of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is raising $3 billion in debt financing to finance new acquisitions, according to multiple reports. The news comes just weeks after Ant Financial agreed to buy Dallas-based money transfer service MoneyGram for $880 million.

Why it matters: Ant Financial is building a bankroll to become one of the world's largest payment and financial services players, and raising debt in dollars suggests that MoneyGram may be only the beginning of its U.S. ambitions.

Add it to the collection: Ant Financial already has Chinese payment services Alipay and MyBank, plus Paytm in India and Ascend Money in Southeast Asia.

Like her father, Ivanka Trump, gave up all management responsibilities for her businesses around the time of the inauguration. After Nordstrom dropped her fashion brand, the president took to Twitter to criticize the move. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer explained it like this:

He has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their successes.

Our thought bubble: Ivanka's current relationship to her business is similar to that of President Trump's with the Trump Organization, in that she resigned from management but didn't divest. Other private companies may now be wondering how POTUS would view the "fairness" of ending a relationship with the Trump Organization. And in Ivanka's case, is Spicer referring to past "business activities" and, if so, how could Nordstrom treat Ivanka fairly or unfairly today?

Nordstrom might be playing politics, too. Nordstrom says its decision was based on performance, but a spokesman for Ivanka's fashion line tells Axios the retailer ordered both shoes and apparel for spring 2017, and only canceled the former. Moreover, the brand claims year-over-year revenue growth in 2016, and Nordstrom's co-president reportedly wrote an internal memo last November that referred to Ivanka Trump's wares as "a sizable and successful business."

During their meeting at the Oval Office, Intel CEO Bryan Krzanich told Trump that the company is investing $7 billion in a an Arizona factory, per White House pool reports. Krzanich said that the factory — which will create the "most advanced" semi-conductor chips on the planet — will employ about 3k workers directly, and 10k workers in Arizona in support of the factory.

Krzanich added that Trump's "advantageous" tax and regulatory policies are partly responsible for their decision to announce the factory investment at the White House. Trump called the investment "a great thing for Arizona," and said the products will be "amazing."

Facebook is expanding on its Safety Check feature, which allows users to mark that they're "safe" during a natural disaster or terrorist attack in the area. Locals can now offer assistance to victims by providing resources such as food, shelter, transportation, and water.

The new feature — "Community Help" — launched today in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia. After a few weeks of testing, Facebook hopes to expand to additional countries and different types of incidents.

How to use: Safety Check must be activated first. Then people offering assistance can post their donations online, and users seeking help will be able to view those posts by location and category. Facebook says it consulted experts and humanitarian relief organizations when developing this new feature.

Chelsea Clinton's husband, Marc Mezvinsky, shut down his hedge fund in December, per Bloomberg. Eaglevale Partners, which oversaw about $400 million and boasted Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Bankfein as an investor, has been quietly returning funds to investors since the close.

A bad bet: The close comes after several years of losses, including a 48% loss in 2014 because of a failed bet that Greece's economy would improve, per the WSJ. Two years after Eaglevale opened its Greece fund, it was shuttered in 2016.

About WikiLeaks: This close comes after reports from WikiLeaks that Mezvinsky used his connections from The Clinton Foundation to court investors for Eaglevale, per Politico.

In an effort to bolster digital subscription revenue, The Times announced Wednesday it would give new digital subscribers unlimited access to Spotify Premium, the paid portion of the music-streaming app that has quickly become the highest-grossing music streaming service in America.

Is it worth it? We did the math. If you were going to buy an NYT all access digital subscription and a Spotify premium subscription, you'll save $55 the first year, but you'll lose $10 yearly after that. It doesn't pay off after six years.

Ivanka Trump stepped down on December 28th from a five-person board that oversees a $300 million trust owned by Rupert Murdoch's youngest daughters, the Financial Times reports. The FT says that Trump had been on the board for several years, going back before her father's presidential campaign.

Why it matters: The news illustrates the close relationship between the Trumps and the Murdochs, a relationship that could have wide implications for Corporate America. New York Magazine reports that Trump recently solicited Murdoch's advice for whom to name as chair of the FCC, while Murdoch has pressed Trump to block the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger.

A source with direct knowledge tells Axios that Republican operatives were urging at least one conservative-friendly website to write Jake Tapper hit pieces yesterday after his hard-hitting interview with Kellyanne Conway.

.@jaketapper to Kellyanne Conway: Why hasn't the President offered his sympathy to our neighbors in the North? https://t.co/YoJ9OYk7d1— CNN (@CNN) February 7, 2017

This is hardly shocking, and happens all the time, but in this weaponized political-media environment it could get nasty fast.

Why go after him: A central part of Team Trump's strategy is discrediting the mainstream media. CNN is his top target, with the New York Times a close second. Jake Tapper is the network's star interviewer, and he's been giving the most aggressive interrogations of Team Trump for months now.

Michael Kors revenue dropped in recent months because of discounts in North America; although the number of handbag units the fashion company sold increased, handbag sales declined, indicating skimmed dollars on sales.

Data: Money.net

The next move: The fashion company aims to sell its handbags at full price, by improving craftsmanship and using better-quality leather since its handbags at full price sold well all last season. Coach recently made a similar move to avoid discounted pricing.

Why this matters: The luxury bag market is crowded with competition, making it difficult to sell at premium prices and dragging prices down. Michael Kors CEO John Idol predicted dollar terms would not increase this year at all for handbags, per the WSJ.