Launch House, a company that hosts month-long programs for entrepreneurs at its communal houses, is raising $10 million for a fund to invest in startups, per a new SEC filing.
Why it matters: While the pandemic forced many programs—including famed accelerator Y Combinator—to go online, Launch House is betting that the in-person format is superior.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s entertainment company, Westbrook Inc., has sold a minority stake to a new media company backed by Blackstone and led by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, a source close to the deal confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: Celebrity and athlete production studios are becoming a hot target for acquisitions, as streamers look to bolster their content offerings.
NFT marketplace OpenSea is in talks to acquire Dharma Labs, a digital wallet for cryptocurrencies, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: NFTs have exploded in popularity, as everyone from global consumer brands to indie artists have rushed to sell digital collectibles, and user-friendly crypto wallets are critical to the industry's future growth.
Deere & Company introduced the world's first autonomous tractor Tuesday, a technology breakthrough that could help farmers cope with a worsening skilled labor shortage.
Why it matters: Farmers are getting older — 55 years old on average — and with more than 80% of the U.S. population residing in urban areas, there aren't enough laborers to do the work or operate machinery.
A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November, according to government data released Tuesday morning.
Why it matters: The numbers, from the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, are the latest sign that the job market is red hot for workers, particularly for employees in lower-wage industries.
NPR plans to add a slew of new shows and subscriber-only bonus content to its new podcast platform NPR+, executives tell Axios. It also plans to launch an on-demand podcast bundle as a benefit of membership to local stations in the second half of the year.
Why it matters: Subscription podcasting offers a new digital business model for NPR and its member stations. But its long-standing mission to inform the public limits how much content the non-profit can put behind a paywall.
Protocol is adding 25 new positions, bringing its total employee count to roughly 80 by the end of the year, its new president Bennett Richardson told Axios.
Why it matters: It represents a comeback for the company, which launched weeks before the pandemic shut down the country in early 2020.
Fanatics agreed to buy the trading cards and collectibles business of Topps for around $500 million.
Why it matters: Topps must feel like a baseball card stuck to a bicycle spoke. The industry pioneer last year agreed to go public via SPAC at a $1.3 billion valuation, but the merger was scrapped after Topps lost its exclusive licensing deal with Major League Baseball to Fanatics, which has yet to print a single card.
Mercedes-Benz has taken the wraps off an efficient electric sedan that the auto giant calls capable of traveling 620 miles per charge.
Why it matters: That's beyond anything on the road today, even Lucid Motor's 520-mile range luxury Air sedan that began reaching customers a few months ago.
2021 wasa dozen spiritually debilitating months of disruption and sickness — but also a hopeful time of vaccination, resilience and recovery. Either way, the market loved it.
The big picture: The S&P 500 jumped nearly 27% last year, underpinned by super-supportive monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and hopes for forthcoming Federal spending from the Biden administration. It was the third straight double-digit showing for the benchmark index.
Get ready for new faces who could leave a mark on the economic recovery.
Where it stands: There are three open slots on the seven-seat Federal Reserve Board of Governors, plus openings for permanent heads at two regional Fed banks — all of which may be filled this year.
The federal government isn’t moving on raising the minimum wage from $7.25 — but states and cities are.
The big picture: A total of 26 states are set to raise their minimum wage in 2022, according to an analysis by consulting firm Wolters Kluwer.
On top of that, 56 municipalities will bump their pay floors, for a record year of increases, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Why it matters: The battleground has largely moved from the federal level and is playing out in statehouses across the country.
At least 20 states have laws on the books preventing cities within their borders from instituting their own minimum wage hikes, Deirdre Kennedy, senior payroll analyst at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., tells Axios.
Many of those states still hold the minimum wage near the rock-bottom federal level, which hasn't moved since 2009, she adds.
What to watch: With the federal mandate stagnant, companies themselves are also starting to establish minimum pay levels in an effort to improve recruitment and retention of quality employees, Kennedy says.
Engagement with news content plummeted last year compared to 2020, and given the ongoing decline in interest in news about COVID-19 and politics, it doesn't look like 2022 will be much better.
Why it matters: The Trump era and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created a one-of-a-kind media moment that will be hard for news companies to replicate.
Drug companies raised the prices on hundreds of medications on Jan. 1, with most prices up 5% to 6% on average.
Why it matters: The start of the new year is the most popular time for drug companies to hike prices, and even though high drug prices remain one of the biggest political health care issues, increases in 2022 are tracking in line with other recentyears.
AT&T and Verizon late Monday said they would briefly delay a planned deployment of 5G services, reversing course in an ongoing fight with the aviation industry.
Why it matters: The Federal Aviation Administration has warned that without protections, potential interference from 5G signals could lead to flight cancellations or planes being diverted from airports.
Chinese surveillance giant Hikvision is going after its top U.S. media critic as part of a ramped-up policy fight aimed at staving off a federal ban on its products, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Hikvision's quiet offensive against the surveillance technology trade publication IPVM is a significant escalation in its fight against measures it considers contrary to law. They are aimed at cracking down on what federal regulators have dubbed potential national security threats by Chinese technology companies.
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of blood-testing company Theranos, on Monday was found guilty of conspiracy and fraud against certain investors by a California jury.
Why it matters: Holmes was the poster child of Silicon Valley hubris, taking "fake it till you make it" to illegal extremes. She was found not guilty on several charges relating to patients and company ads in Arizona.
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