Ride-hailing company Lyft posted its first-ever profit on an adjusted EBITDA basis on Tuesday, along with $765 million in revenue for Q2 and a loss per share of $0.76.
Why it matters: The company now expects to reach full-year adjusted EBITDA profitability this year. With investor pressure to see gig economy companies get in the black, Lyft said in 2019 it would reach this milestone by the last quarter of 2021 (and that was before the pandemic forced everyone home for several months).
Americans collectively owe over $10 trillion for their homes — and a sizable share of that balance (44%) originated in the past year.
Why it matters: The fresh data point — courtesy of the New York Fed — illustrates the historic mad dash to buy new homes or refinance existing mortgages.
Robinhood, best known for its popular no-fee stock trading app, went public last Thursday while facing an unusually large legal and regulatory storm.
Why it matters: While some challenges will likely resolve, others could seriously maim the company, forcing it to right its business ship under the scrutiny and pressures of the public markets.
Boeing is set to launch a redo of an uncrewed test of its Starliner spacecraft — designed to one day carry astronauts — to the International Space Station this week.
Why it matters: This is a high-stakes test for Boeing, which failed to get its Starliner to the station during its first uncrewed test flight in December 2019.
Quake, a subscription podcast company founded by media veterans, has raised an additional $3.5 million, Axios has learned.
Details: The round was led by Chicago Ventures with participation from a few individual investors, including Cameo founder and CEO Steven Galanis and SpotHero founder and CEO Mark Lawrence.
Sanofi, the French drugmaker, will buy its mRNA development partner Translate Bio for $3.2 billion. Sanofi will pay $38 per share in cash, 30% above Monday’s closing price.
Why it matters: mRNA has become the miracle technology of the pandemic as the foundation of the highly effective vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
Deel, a three-year-old startup that helps companies hire internationally, has acquired German software startup Zeitgold. The deal comes just months after raising a $156 million Series C, Deel's second funding round since the pandemic began.
Why it matters: The future of work might not be in the home office for everyone, but hiring the best employees wherever they are in the world is an undeniable trend.
For the first time ever, a film distributor will use Facebook to debut a movie exclusively via a ticketed live event, executives tell Axios.
Driving the news: "The Outsider," a controversial documentary about the construction of the 9/11 Museum in Manhattan, will premiere publicly on Facebook for $3.99 on Aug. 19.
McDonald's will require all customers and staff to start wearing masks again while inside the restaurant in counties with high or substantial COVID-19 transmission, regardless of vaccination status, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is one of the hottest parts of fintech, built on the idea that a simple pay-in-installments plan doesn't really feel like a loan — especially when it comes with 0% interest.
The big picture: Now that idea has driven Square to acquire Australia-based BNPL giant Afterpay for about $32 billion in stock, based on where its share price closed on Monday.
If companies raised pay high enough, then maybe they wouldn’t complain about labor shortages that have forced them to forgo sales. But there seems to be a limit to how much a company is willing to pay, despite what seems like a clear opportunity to maximize the top line.
Why it matters: Companies have been scrambling to staff up amid a rapid economic recovery. Employers across industries have been raising wages in their efforts to be competitive.
Experts warn that the Federal Reserve’s plan to eventually taper its quantitative easing program could bring volatility to the markets. But the volatility could prove limited.
Why it matters: QE is an emergency monetary policy tool that involves large-scale purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities in an effort to keep the bond markets liquid and well-functioning during times of stress.
Logistics provider DHL Express is adding electric cargo planes to its fleet, becoming the first customer for Eviation, a Seattle-based electric aviation company.
Why it matters: As delivery on demand explodes, shipping and logistics providers like DHL are under pressure to make every mode of their operations more sustainable — aircraft, trucks, last-mile delivery vans, and even their buildings.
Companies have made it a year and a half mostlywithout traveling for work — and now more and more of them are considering dramatically reducing business travel to slash costs and cut carbon emissions.
Why it matters: Business travel is a massive part of the global economy — with trillions of dollars and millions of jobs at airlines, hotels and travel agencies hinging on its return.
An attorney for former President Trump told the Wall Street Journal Monday he intends to fight a Department of Justice order to release his tax returns to the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee.
Driving the news: The DOJ said in a memo to the Treasury Department last Friday that the committee had a "legitimate legislative purpose" to access the returns. A judge has asked the parties to provide a time frame for written arguments by Wednesday, the WSJ notes.
Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, should hold a new election to determine whether to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the National Labor Relations Board said in a preliminary finding Monday.
Details: The e-commerce giant may have illegally interfered in a mail-in election tallied in April on whether workers at the plant should unionize, per a statement from an NLRB hearing officer assigned to the case. Amazon said it would appeal any ruling stipulating that a second vote should take place.
