Axios

Clubhouse has become social media's newest darling, eschewing text and visuals for an audio-only experience whereby users can hear discussions on a multitude of topics, plus even the occasional 40-person Broadway musical performance.

Axios Re:Cap goes deeper into what Clubhouse is, why it matters and where social media goes from here, with Katie Stanton, an early Clubhouse investor whose resume includes time at Twitter, Google and the Obama White House.

An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released Monday found that the $15 federal minimum wage bill proposed by Democrats would cut jobs for 1.4 million workers by 2025, but lift 900,000 people out of poverty.

Why it matters: President Biden included a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour in his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, but it's facing resistance from moderate Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Biden said over the weekend that he does not expect the provision to survive negotiations, but that he'll push for it in a separate bill.

A French court has ordered Veolia (Paris: VIE) not to launch a $13.6 billion hostile takeover bid for rival water and waste management firm Suez (Paris: SEV).

Why it matters: France is culturally averse to corporate takeover fights, as evidenced by government officials pleading for a peaceful resolution.

John Matze, fired last month as CEO of social media app Parler, tells Axios on HBO that he feels "betrayed" by investor Rebekah Mercer, the heiress daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.

Why it matters: Never before has a social media startup risen so high and fallen so far in such a short period of time.

Tesla has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and will begin accepting the cryptocurrency as payment for its products, the company announced in an SEC filing Monday.

Why it matters: Tesla would be the first automaker to accept bitcoin for payments, with the $1.5 billion purchase giving the company liquidity in the cryptocurrency once it starts allowing people to use it to buy products, per CNBC.

SoftBank's Vision Fund arm posted $12.8 billion in gains (and $8 billion net profit) from its investments for the Oct.-Dec. quarter, mainly driven by its stakes in Uber and DoorDash. SoftBank Group itself posted a $11.1 billion net profit.

Why it matters: The record performance since Vision Fund's debut in 2017 comes just a year after its absolute worst.

Fourth-quarter earnings have been far better than expected for S&P 500 companies, with the index overall reporting year-over-year earnings growth of 1.7% as of Friday.

Details: The expected earnings of the index have increased consistently. Analysts had predicted a year-over-year decline in earnings of -2.4% last week and a year-over-year decline in earnings of -9.3% at the end of the fourth quarter, according to FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters.

January's nonfarm payrolls report made clear that the U.S. is not experiencing, nor is moving toward, maximum employment. The paltry 49,000 jobs added is only the tip of the iceberg of bad news the report contained.

By the numbers: The Labor Department also reported that the U.S. shed an additional 87,000 jobs in December, for a total of 227,000 jobs lost.

In an on-demand world, ads can drive instant sales. So how did last night's commercials perform? We partnered with delivery service goPuff to find out.

The winner: Pringles introduced the BBQ Pizza Stack during their first-quarter commercial and goPuff customers immediately wanted to replicate it.