Politico sources tell Axios that Ryan Lizza, Politico's chief Washington correspondent, and Rachael Bade, now of the Washington Post but formerly of Politico, will join the Politico Playbook franchise in 2021, and the company plans to add several other high-profile names to the roster in the coming weeks.
Details: The company has been trying to assemble a new team that would manage a slew of products related to the Playbook franchise.
The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization Tuesday to Ellume's over-the-counter antigen COVID-19 test for fully at-home use.
Why it matters: Once available, a person in theory would be able to buy the test in a drug store, swab their nose, and run the test for results in about 20 minutes.
Congress and the White House are continuing their tortoise act on economic stimulus, all while telling us that help is almost certainly, maybe, on its way.
The state of play: One thing most elected officials agree on is the need for a reauthorized Paycheck Protection Program, which would provide forgivable loans to struggling small businesses.
Digital media companies are looking to consolidate with the help of SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies), an increasingly popular alternative for businesses to raise money via a public offering, without undertaking a traditional IPO process.
Driving the news: Group Nine Media is considering using a blank-check company to acquire some of its competitors, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Nearly every major app geared towards content creators has seen significant percentage increases in downloads this year, according to data from Apptopia.
The state of play: Cameo expects to make $100 million from video transactions this year, a spokesperson tells Axios. Over 1 million Cameo videos have been sold-to-date, Tens of thousands of talent now use the app to sell videos.
Spotify on Tuesday announced a multi-year partnership with Archewell Audio, the newly formed audio production company created by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle.
Why it matters: It's the latest effort from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to use media as a platform for change. The pair signed a multi-year Netflix deal in September.
Vox Media Studios, the video and audio production arm of Vox Media, is planning to bring in $100 million in 2021 revenue while producing twice as many shows as 2020, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans.
Why it matters: Vox Media hasn't been immune from the pandemic’s financial headwinds on digital publishers, but the studios revenue would be a huge number for the company, which reportedly expected $300 million in overall 2020 revenue.
David Bradley says he is committed to owning and growing National Journal — the first media company he ever purchased — for at least the next 10 years, according to a memo obtained by Axios.
Driving the news: Bradley says his family is selling its controlling interest in National Journal's lucrative research business to Falfurrias Capital Partners (FCP), a Charlotte-based private equity firm that invests in growth-oriented, middle-market businesses.
Blue Wire, a sports podcast company, has raised $5 million in its series A round, founder Kevin Jones tell Axios.
Why it matters: The company, which focuses on long-form sports narrative podcasts and conversational podcasts, now hosts more than 140 podcasts with over 20 million downloads for the year. It has $1.5 million in 2020 revenue via sponsorship partnerships via brands like Chevy and Visa.
Penske Media Corp. (PMC) is planning to merge the back end functions of three of the top music news publishers in the U.S., according to two sources familiar with the company's plans.
Why it matters: The Justice Department is still investigating the deal between PMC and rival MRC to create a joint venture that houses most of the country's biggest music and entertainment news brands.
Oracle co-founderLarry Ellison told employees that he has moved to Lanai, Hawaii, becoming the latest Silicon Valley executive to announce a departure from California, as Recode first reported.
The big picture: Oracle announced Friday that it had shifted the company’s headquarters to Austin, from Redwood City, California, and Ellison made clear on Monday that he would not be making the trip to Texas.
U.S. homeowners with mortgages saw a collective equity gain of $1 trillion in the third quarter, a 10.8% increase from Q3 2019, according to a new report from CoreLogic. That comes out to an average gain of $17,000 per homeowner, the largest average equity gain since the first quarter of 2014.
The big picture: The housing market has been on fire since the summer as Americans fled large population centers, looked to take advantage of record-low interest rates and sought to park their cash in real estate as U.S. money supply surged.
Americans' trust in the Federal Reserve increased significantly this month in the latest Axios/Ipsos poll, rising for the second straight month and by the most since questions about the central bank were added to the survey in May.
By the numbers: Trust jumped by 7 percentage points, with 42% of respondents saying they had at least a fair amount of trust in the Fed.
As the frenzy in IPOs and the overall stock market continues, data show overall consumer confidence is languishing and concern about income inequality is rising.
Driving the news: A new survey from research and data firm CivicScience provided exclusively to Axios shows 78% of Americans are at least somewhat concerned about the rising level of inequality in the U.S. and 48% are very concerned.
Blade, a short-distance aviation company best known for helicopter rides from airports to city centers, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) affiliated with KSL Capital Partners.
Why it matters: Blade wants to become the first publicly traded company to offer electric vehicles in the air.
A judge ordered Uber on Monday to pay a $59 million fine to California’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and threatened to suspend its state permit to operate if the firm fails to do so within 30 days.
The big picture: The judge found the ride-hailing giant had failed to share data with the regulator following Uber's safety report last year, which revealed that U.S. users reported nearly 6,000 incidents of sexual assault and harassment on trips made in 2017 and 2018.
