Despite some progress, it will take women in North America approximately 61.5 years to have economic parity with men according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for 2021.
Why it matters: Women in the U.S. have made strides in political representation, but they still lag behind menin job market participation and income, according to the report.
Companies are readying workers to return to the office in phased and limited capacities.
Why it matters: With 29% of the U.S. population having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, businesses are inching toward reopening at different paces depending on geography and previously announced policies.
New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D) said at an Axios event Tuesday that diversifying New Mexico's economy will create "homegrown" opportunities, providing a different type of job security for workers who rely on oil and gas industries.
Why it matters: Politicians have sparred over environmental justice and its impact on workers in the oil and gas industries. But even major oil and gas producers across the U.S. are making changes now, Luján said, which means New Mexico needs to move fast about planning for the future.
"That's the first time I've ever seen someone write their own obituary." That's the text message I woke up to this morning, and it was more than a bit unsettling. First thing I did was look in the mirror to make sure I was in it, then back at the bed to make sure I wasn't there too. Then it hit me: "Oh, this is about Substack."
Driving the news: Last night we reported that the email newsletter platform is raising $65 million at a $650 million post-money valuation led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z).
Since its sale to private equity firm Great Hill Partners in 2019, G/O Media (formerly Gizmodo Media), has lost a slew of top editors from its news and information sites.
Driving the news: Two editors-in-chief have left or announced departures from G/O Media in the past week.
The live TV "skinny bundle" is proving to be a much tougher business to crack than telecom providers and tech giants initially expected.
Driving the news: T-Mobile announced a major deal with Google that will, among other things, see the mobile carrier give up on running its own cable rival "TVision" and instead resell YouTube TV.
Documentaries were the fastest-growing genre on streaming last year, as more news companies leaned into licensing deals with streamers around current events.
Why it matters: Data from Parrot Analytics shows that there’s an appetite for news-adjacent content on-demand.
Digital currency platform Bakkt launched its consumer app Tuesday. The Bakkt App serves as a digital wallet for loyalty and rewards points and gift cards, as well as bitcoin.
Why it matters: Building an app that places bitcoin next to commonly used forms of digital assets could help introduce cryptocurrency to people who might not otherwise seek it out.
How it works: Tides are usually higher during a full or new moon. But that effect was boosted by the year's first supermoon — which occurs when a full moon orbits closest to the Earth.
PayPal is set to begin allowing customers to make purchases on its platform by converting their cryptocurrency holdings into fiat currencies at checkout, according to Reuters.
Why it matters: Despite the surge in popularity of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the volatile asset has not become a mainstream form of payment. PayPal believes its move will help make cryptocurrency use more common, per Reuters.
To date, much of the craze for NFTs — cryptographically unique tokens tied to creative works — has centered on the art world, where Christie's recently sold one NFT for a whopping $69 million. But NFTs have found a more down-to-earth niche via their use in the world of sports.
What's happening: A collection of investors, professional athletes and sports leagues are betting that the business of fans purchasing and trading NBA Top Shots — NFTs tied to key moments in past NBA games, which have already done hundreds of millions of dollars in business — will keep growing.
Spotify announced Tuesday it's buying Betty Labs, an app developer, and a live audio app developed by Betty Labs called Locker Room.
Why it matters: The deal marks Spotify's first foray into social audio. The company said last month that it was looking at ways to make its podcast more interactive between creators and listeners.
Entercom, the publicly-traded radio and podcast company, is rebranding as "Audacy" to help establish itself as a modern audio company with a single trademark that extends across all of its consumer brands.
Why it matters: Prior to the rebrand, Entercom's consumer-facing audio products had different names and access points, making it difficult for the company to compete with the likes of unified audio brands like Spotify.
Thanks to declining production and bullish expectations for greater demand and more grocery shopping, prices of lean hogs are through the roof in 2021 and have become the world's top-performing major asset.
What's happening: Prices have risen by more than 60% over the past year, with the overwhelming majority of that growth taking place in 2021 (up 50% year to date), as the commodity has broken out since January.
Cameo, the app that lets fans pay for personalized videos from celebrities, is now a unicorn.
Driving the news: The company said Tuesday that its parent Baron App Inc. has raised $100 million in a round led by e.ventures, giving it a valuation of just over $1 billion.
A Nobel Prize-winning economist says he not only endorses President Biden's expected $4 trillion infrastructure spending plan, but expects that it could break the U.S. out of the low-growth, low-inflation environment that has existed for the past 20 years.
Why it matters: The combination of Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and the expected Build Back Better program, mean the U.S. "may be in a very good position to get back into a more normal economy," Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz told Axios in an exclusive interview.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says he is unbothered by inflation concerns raised by economists and market participants recently, and thinks former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers wasn't thinking when he published his recent op-ed in the Washington Post.
What we're hearing: Summers warned about the potential for "inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation, with consequences for the value of the dollar and financial stability," but Stiglitz told Axios that worry about inflation today is "certainly premature" and "totally unnecessary."
Substack is raising $65 million in new venture capital funding that would value the company at around $650 million, Axios has learned. Existing investor Andreessen Horowitz is leading the round.
Why it matters: Substack, which provides a platform on which writers can publish paid email newsletters and keep most of the revenue, has seen its popularity soar.
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