A federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan for Puerto Rico to get out of bankruptcy five years after the island said it would not be able to repay its creditors.
Why it matters: The restructuring plan will cut Puerto Rico's outstanding debt by 80% and save the government over $50 billion in payments amid the island's struggle to recover from multiple hurricanes, earthquakes and COVID-19, Puerto Rico's financial oversight board said.
California prosecutors have filed two manslaughter charges against the driver of a Tesla, who ran a red light and killed two people in 2019 while using the vehicle's Autopilot function, AP reports.
Why it matters: The driver, Kevin George Aziz Riad, is the first person in the U.S. charged with a felony for a fatal car crash involving Tesla's advanced driver assist system, according to AP.
Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard sets the stage for the gaming giant to remove its sexual misconduct scandal from the spotlight, business ethicists say.
Why it matters: Mergers and acquisitions come with cultural shake-ups — and that’s precisely what Activision needs.
Drugmaker Gilead alleges a ring of drug suppliers and distributors sold over 85,000 counterfeit bottles of its HIV medication to pharmacies over the past two years, according to a lawsuit unsealed Tuesday.
Why it matters: Suppliers bought many of the illicit drugs from homeless or addicted HIV patients and resold them with fake documents, often at cheaper prices, a Gilead spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.
The 2022 Grammy Awards have been rescheduled to take place on April 3 in Las Vegas, after they were postponed due to surging COVID-19 cases, event organizers announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: This was the second year music's biggest award night has been pushed back. The event was originally scheduled for Jan. 31.
Ford Motor and security firm ADT are forming a new company to develop vehicle security technology designed to prevent thieves from stealing valuables out of your car, truck or van.
Why it matters: The FBI estimates more than $7.4 billion was lost to vehicle theft and stolen work and recreational equipment in 2020. The new venture, called Canopy, will use AI-based security systems and cameras to help people keep a closer eye on their vehicles and the property they carry inside them.
Gopuff is telling prospective investors that its model is more Amazon than Uber, as it seeks to fill out a $1 billion convertible note offering, according to confidential materials viewed by Axios.
Why it matters: There's widespread skepticism that instant delivery can profitably scale, despite massive investment and customer adoption.
Al Jazeera, a media company funded by the government of Qatar, has quietly stopped creating new content for its conservative digital outlet "Rightly," four sources confirm to Axios.
Why it matters: The outlet was launched in February of 2021 to "provide fresh voices that are too often left out of the mainstream media a space to engage and debate the issues that matter most to them,” per a statement at the time.
Unilever said it will continue to pursue a takeover of GlaxoSmithKline's consumer unit, which includes Advil painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste, after being rejected on three bids — the last of which was worth around $68 billion.
Why it matters: This is all about two corporate giants looking to restructure.
The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on data-driven tech investigations, had $6.8 million in revenue in 2021 — mostly from philanthropy — up from $4.2 million in 2020, according to its president, Nabiha Syed.
Why it matters: The outlet aims to distinguish itself from the barrage of modern tech coverage by focusing on consumers, particularly those that suffer from inequalities driven by tech, rather than the investor business class.
The Arena Group, a digital publishing company formerly called Maven, plans to acquire AMG/Parade, the parent company to the storied American magazine Parade, in a $16 million cash and stock deal.
Why it matters: AMG/Parade will anchor The Arena Group's new push into lifestyle content and will boost its sports vertical, per Ross Levinsohn, CEO of The Arena Group.
Gallup polling found a huge shift in party preference over the course of 2021, from a 9-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter to a 5-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter.
Why it matters: It's the biggest swing in one calendar year for Gallup's 30 years of tracking.
Five years ago on Tuesday, Axios launched with the big idea that the world needed smarter, more efficient coverage of the topics shaping the fast-changing world. We pledged to put our audience first, always.
Thank you for loving Axios as we spread beyond newsletters and our web stream to podcasts ... live and virtual events ... shows ... Axios Local(14 cities, with 11 more soon) ... Axios HQ, helping your organization communicate in Smart Brevity™ ... and launching Wednesday: Axios Pro, our subscription service diving deep into deals and dealmakers.
After years of griping about Nielsen's outdated measurement practices, media giants are finally beginning to test ways to assess viewership ahead of the 2022 TV season.
Why it matters: The pandemic-driven shift to streaming forced TV companies to find new measurement alternatives faster than expected. Consumers stand to benefit from new standards, which aim to make ads and content more relevant.
Trust in government is collapsing, especially in democracies, according to a new global survey.
Why it matters: People also don't think media or business leaders are telling them the truth, and this suspicion of multiple societal institutions is pushing people into smaller, more insular circles of trust.
Job openings have been roaring back across the country, but some metro areas are significantly hotter than others, per a new report from the jobs site Indeed.
Why it matters: Tracking growth in different cities gives us insight into how the pandemic is changing the geography of jobs.
More than 28.5 million seniors and people with disabilities were enrolled in a private Medicare Advantage plan as of Jan. 1, an 8.8% increase from the same time in 2021, according to new federal data analyzed by Axios.
Why it matters: Enrollment in the controversial MA program continues to grow, and based on prior full-year trends, enrollment in 2022 likely will surpass the federal government's prediction of 29.5 million people.
The old work world is gone, writes Larry Fink, the biggest investor on the planet, in his closely read letter to CEOs, released on Monday night.
Driving the news: Used to be that companies could expect employees to come to the office five days a week, neglect workers' mental health and keep wages low for those at the lower end of the income scale, writes Fink, who is the chief executive of BlackRock. Not any longer.
The CEOs of leading U.S. air cargo and passenger carriers on Monday warned the Biden administration there could be "catastrophic disruption" after AT&T and Verizon deploy a new 5G service this week.
Driving the news: They said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other top federal officials ahead of the C-Band 5G service's deployment Wednesday that "the nation's commerce will grind to a halt" and "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas."
