Axios

Global Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Asset Management are in advanced talks to acquire a 49% stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s natural gas pipelines for $15 billion (including debt), per multiple reports.

Why it matters: Neither the pandemic nor energy price volatility has slowed global infrastructure investing.

Venture capital is not the primary cause of, nor primary solution to, America's racial inequities. But as a major driver of wealth and opportunity, it does exacerbate them.

How it works: Black men are woefully underrepresented within VC firms at just 2%, based on the most recent data. Black women don't even rank a percentage point.

Private companies shed 2.8 million U.S. jobs last month, according to a report from payroll processor ADP and Moody’s Analytics.

Why it matters: It's way less than the nearly 9 million private sector jobs economists estimated would be lost in May, suggesting layoffs during the coronavirus crisis could be slowing sooner than Wall Street expected.

Looking at the economies of South Korea and Taiwan leads to a discomforting takeaway: "Reopening isn’t going to be an economic cure-all," Matthew C. Klein writes for Barron's.

What it means: "Both countries contained the virus better than the U.S., yet consumers in those countries remain reluctant to spend and venture out," Klein notes.

The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracker estimates that real GDP growth in the second quarter will decline by -52.8%.

What they're saying: That estimate is down from -51.2% on May 29 and -40.4% on May 28.

On a percentage basis more white workers have lost their jobs since February, but that has largely been because black workers in the U.S. are much more likely to work front-line jobs considered essential during the coronavirus pandemic.

By the numbers: Black workers make up about one in nine workers overall, but about one in six front-line-industry workers, according to a study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure said in a letter to employees early Wednesday that the firm will create a $100 million fund that "will only invest in companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of color."

Why it matters: The Opportunity Growth Fund is one of the first to put significant capital behind companies' statements of empathy and outrage in response to protests over systemic racism in the U.S. typified by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans by police.

Workers — especially millennials and Gen Zers — are paying close attention to the words and actions of their employers during national crises, such as the protests following the killing of George Floyd in police custody.

Why it matters: American companies have an enormous amount of wealth and influence that they can put toward effecting change, and CEOs have the potential to fill the leadership vacuum left by government inaction. More and more rank-and-file employees expect their bosses to do something with that money and power.

As Americans engage in difficult conversations about race, violence, privilege and more, one place they may receive training is the workplace.

Why it matters: Firms often ask or invite employees to attend programs that help them communicate about diversity and inclusion. With many people working from home, the skills they've picked up can also be applied in a family setting.

Zoom saw revenue more than double and bulked up what had been a razor-thin profit margin in the three months ending April 30, the company reported Tuesday.

The big picture: The report marks Zoom's first of the pandemic era, as the company went from insurgent enterprise video-conferencing startup to global powerhouse.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on his decision not to remove incendiary posts from President Trump in an internal call with employees on Tuesday, The New York Times reports.

The state of play: The tech giant is facing criticism for keeping the posts on the site after Twitter added fact-checks to Trump's same posts last week.

Twitter, Google, Nike and Netflix are among the dozens of brands over the past two days that have taken public stances in favor of Americans protesting racial inequality.

The state of play: Some companies have changed their logos in solidarity with the movement and put out statements, while others have pledged money in support of efforts to address social injustice.

New solar and wind energy projects are "undercutting the cheapest and least sustainable of existing coal-fired plants" worldwide, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said in a report Tuesday.

Driving the news: The group finds that in 2021, roughly 1,200 gigawatts of coal-fired generation may have higher operating costs than the average price of new utility-scale solar.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker says it's currently investigating over 100 violations of press freedoms in the past three days, which is astonishing given the fact that it normally documents 100-150 press freedom violations in the U.S. per year.

Driving the news: Dozens of journalists across the country tweeted videos Saturday night of themselves and their crews getting arrested, being shot at by police with rubber bullets, targeted with tear gas by authorities or assaulted by protesters.

U.S. forces yesterday used tear gas on peaceful protesters outside the White House gates, prior to a declared curfew, clearing a path for President Trump to visit a riot-damaged church for a photo opportunity.

The state of play: Two of the largest U.S. producers of tear gas are owned by private equity firms, but those firms have no interest in discussing their ownership.

Cerberus Capital Management has agreed to sell control of community hospital group Steward Health Care back to the company, as first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by Axios.

Why it matters: This would make Steward one of the country's largest physician-owned and operated companies. It also marks the end of a 10-year ownership period for Cerberus, which was most recently marked by threats to shutter a Pennsylvania hospital in March, despite the pandemic, if the facility didn't receive state bailout funds.

The Washington Post has signed all 30 of McClatchy's local news outlets to its Zeus Performance product, a software that gives sites better speed, ad view-ability and performance, executives tell Axios.

Why it matters: By adding more local news outlets, The Post can start to build a local news ecosystem within its tech stack.

Grist, a 20-year-old nonprofit online magazine that focuses on climate and environmental coverage, has taking full ownership of all the assets of what's left of Pacific Standard, an award-winning magazine that closed in 2019.

Why it matters: Pacific Standard shut down in 2019 after its main backer, an academic publishing house, withdrew its funding, showcasing the risk that comes with quality journalism being funded without a reliable business model.

U.S. public companies sold more than $60 billion of their own stock last month, the largest monthly total ever.

Why it matters: Like the record $1 trillion of corporate debt issued so far this year, the equity sales show companies are looking to raise cash. But it also indicates many are dubious of the market's nearly 40% rally since March 23 and are cashing out ahead of a possible pullback.

The S&P 500 has gained 24% since April 1, but U.S. Treasuries have been almost entirely unmoved.

Why it matters: Since the Fed announced its QE4ever program (also known as QEinfinity) on March 23, the U.S. Treasury market has been effectively corralled.

As is often the case, the staggering losses in the coronavirus-driven recession have been worse for black workers.

By the numbers: According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, titled "Racism and economic inequality have predisposed black workers to be most hurt by coronavirus pandemic," more than 1 in 6 black workers lost their jobs between February and April.

The CBO released projections on Monday for U.S. nominal GDP to be lower by $15.7 trillion over the next decade than its estimate in January as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

What they're saying: It predicts that when adjusted for inflation GDP will be $7.9 trillion lower over the next decade and down by $790 billion in the second quarter of this year — a 37.7% quarterly contraction.

Nike, Twitter, WarnerMedia, Netflix and Citigroup are among the corporations to publicly back the protesters in recent days, The N.Y. Times reports.

Why it matters: "Major companies are often wary of conflict, especially in a polarized time. They tend to be afraid of offending their customers and associating their brands with sensitive subjects," Tiffany Hsu wrote.

Coverage of George Floyd's death and the ensuing protests this weekend completely dwarfed coverage of the coronavirus, even as the death toll from the pandemic ticked beyond 100,000 in the U.S.

Why it matters: For months, Americans struggled to understand the severity of the pandemic, as hospitals needed to stay closed to outside visitors, let alone journalists with cameras. Now, the opposite is unfolding, with stark images and videos going viral around the protests sweeping the country.