Seniors will see the steepest jump in their Social Security payments in 40 years, the government said today — a boost that affects one in five American households.
Why it matters: A worker shortage is pushing up wages alongside rising costs. But those who don't work only feel the higher expenses, so the government is playing catchup with the pandemic-era inflation surge.
Arctos, an upstart private equity firm founded to buy into pro sports teams, has secured over $3 billion in investor commitments, Axios has learned. The firm originally planned to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.
Why it matters: Private equity has become obsessed with pro sports, from American basketball to European soccer to New Zealand rugby. And Arctos leveraged this fervor on the fundraising circuit.
TripActions, a Palo Alto-based enterprise travel and spend management platform, raised $275 million in Series F funding at a $7.25 billion valuation led by Greenoaks Capital.
Why it matters: This has deep shades of last month's tech darling Toast, a hot startup that laid off hundreds early in the pandemic as its revenue dissipated, before recovering with a valuation vengeance.
Social Security benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will increase 5.9% next year, the Social Security Administration announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: It's the largest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years as inflation continues to tick up largely from supply chain issues, according to AP.
The core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the price of goods and services excluding food and energy, rose 0.2% in September, according to data released Wednesday.
Driving the news: The core CPI rate aligns with the 0.2% increase that economists predicted. The figure is up slightly from August but is significantly down from June's 0.9% increase.
A coalition of nonprofits on Wednesday debuted HowToStopFacebook.org, a fresh push to encourage greater government regulation of the social networking giant aimed at forcing the company to change its business model.
Why it matters: The campaign hopes to take the outrage expressed by legislators over the revelations of whistleblower Frances Haugen and translate it into action.
Google Cloud is partnering with five sustainability-focused companies to offer public and private sector customers new ways of anticipating and reducing their climate risk exposure, among other applications, the company announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: With more climate and sustainability-related data being generated than ever, a premium is being placed on finding ways to gain insights from the firehose of information.
Indian auto heavyweight Tata Motors is planning a major expansion of its electric vehicle lineup, staked by the big TPG Rise Climate fund and Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund ADQ.
Driving the news: Tata is creating a new unit that aims to develop a portfolio of 10 EVs over the next five years and, working with Tata Power, build out charging infrastructure in India, the company said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) questioned Tesla in a letter Wednesday on why the company did not file a recall when it updated the self-driving software for some of its vehicle models last month.
Why it matters: Federal law requires automakers to submit a recall when they issue an "over-the-air" update that mitigates a defect that poses an unreasonable risk to drivers.
The housing market has been on a tear. And 78% of community bank executives think it will "crash" in the next five years, according to a new survey out this morning.
The big picture: While execs signaled caution on the housing market — where median prices are up 15% in the last year — nearly all of them (95%) are optimistic about local economic conditions over the next year.
New government jobs data released Tuesday helps paint a clearer picture of the impact the Delta variant had on the stalled jobs recovery in August. In a nutshell, more people quit their jobs, and companies pulled back on job openings.
Why it matters: The number of new jobs created in August (366,000) was a stark slowdown from July’s 1 million — and a reality check for investors and economists.
“People are dying for experiences now more than ever,” Stephanie Linnartz, Marriott International president, tells Axios.
“Leisure travel in many states and parts of the world is beating 2019,” Linnartz notes, speaking on the sidelines of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit.
More and more jobs that can be done from your bedroom are showing up on the high-paying end of the help-wanted spectrum, according to research by Ladders Inc., a job search site.
Why it matters: There's the potential for greater work-life balance for executives and others in the high-earning realm — and there's more hope of the same for people who aspire to that echelon.
The Biden administration is working with private companies, port officials and unions to keep the Port of Los Angeles running 24/7 in order to reduce the backlog of cargo ships floating in the Pacific, according to administration officials.
Why it matters: With the International Monetary Fund citing supply chain problems as a major factor in cutting global growth projections, the White House is scrambling to address some of the sources of the problem at U.S. ports.
The growth potential in the nascent market for American sports betting is huge. But for now, operators are still losing money — a lot of it.
The big picture: Sports betting is taking a page from the playbook of tech giants like Netflix, Amazon and Twitter, sacrificing profitability in the early days in the hope of ingraining themselves in customers’ lives.
A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked United Airlines on Tuesday night from placing on unpaid leave any employee granted an exemption from the company's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Details: The temporary restraining order also states that the airline cannot deny any late requests "for religious or medical accommodations."
