Why it matters: The administration paused enforcement of the mandate, which requires companies to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated or tested weekly by Jan. 4, 2022, after a separate federal circuit court last month deemed it "staggeringly overbroad."
Superyacht builders are entering the new year with more boats on order than ever before.
Driving the news: The mega-rich (whose wealth ballooned during the pandemic) sought out giant yachts at record rates for a private refuge from the virus — and there are fresh signs it isn't letting up, per Boat International's annual report out this week.
Chinese gaming giant Tencent is buying Turtle Rock Studios, the California-based makers of cooperative multiplayer games Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood, the companies announced today.
Why it matters: Based on the math of industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, Tencent has invested in over 100 gaming companies this year, nearly a third outside of China.
The Las Vegas Strip is on the brink of a new era — its iconic properties are getting new owners at a rate rarely seen before.
Why it matters: This year's historic number of deals on the Strip hint at huge trends reshaping the gaming industry and America's longtime gambling capital.
It's been a tough week for Johnson & Johnson, and not just because its COVID-19 vaccine may falter when faced with the Omicron variant.
Driving the news: A Delaware judge on Monday denied the pharma giant's motion to dismiss a fraud suit brought by former shareholders of Auris Health, a Silicon Valley-based robotic surgery platform that J&J bought two years ago for $3.4 billion in cash.
Dedrone, an SF-based drone defense startup, raised $30.5 million in Series C funding led by public safety firm Axon, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Drone traffic is proliferating faster than is monitoring and mitigation technology. Dedrone's situational awareness software is designed to help safety authorities catch up before there is either intentional or unintentional harm.
The Europe-based vertical farming startup Infarm has reeled in $200 million to fuel its expansion and entry into new markets.
Driving the news: The Series D round includes investment from Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The company plans to enter Middle East markets, in addition to expanding in Asia, the U.S., Japan and Europe.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is plowing forward with a plan to prove economists wrong.
Driving the news: Turkey’s central bank, under pressure from Erdoğan, on Thursday slashed interest rates for the fourth time in as many months, despite official inflation figures running at over 21%.
The Bank of England is giving investors whiplash. Last month, it didn’t hike rates when it had been widely expected to — and on Thursday it raised rates despite not being expected to.
Why it matters: Like the Federal Reserve’s hawkish pivot on Wednesday, the U.K. central bank's move shows that doing battle against inflation is priority number one.
A federal judge on Thursday rejected Purdue Pharma's $4.5 billion bankruptcy settlement with thousands of state, local and tribal governments who sued the company over the opioid epidemic. Purdue said it would appeal the ruling.
Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York ruled Thursday the settlement should not be allowed because the court doesn't have the legal authority to release the Sackler family from liability in civil cases, per the New York Times.
