Popular Korean pop boy band BTS is planning to hold three in-person concerts in South Korea next month, despite surging COVID-19 cases, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Why it matters: South Korea is currently experiencing record-breaking rates of new COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, the country surpassed 90,000 new daily infections for the first time in the pandemic, Reuters reported.
Self-driving technology companies are striking while the iron is hot.
Driving the news: Waymo Via, the self-driving truck unit under Google parent company Alphabet, announced a new deal Wednesday with one of the biggest logistics companies in the world — C.H. Robinson.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is urging leaders of major companies to lift COVID-19 restrictions and allow employees to return to offices in the city.
Why it matters: It's part of Adams' effort to jumpstart the city's economy as Omicron cases slow.
ViacomCBS' (Nasdaq:VIAC) stock dropped more than 20% Wednesday after the company said it would rebrand as Paramount and reorient itself further around streaming.
Why it matters: Investors wonder how the combined company plans to compete against streaming giants like Netflix and Disney long-term and most expect the company to soon explore a sale.
Alaska Airlines is taking a flyer on a subscription service, joining the recurring-payment ranks of Netflix, Amazon and Peloton as the travel industry recovers from its pandemic woes.
Why it matters: The subscription economy is taking over more areas of our lives, offering new payment and service options while threatening to disrupt businesses that can’t keep up. And as the fifth-largest carrier in the U.S., Alaska Airlines has the heft to shake up the marketplace.
Retail sales receipts grew even bigger last month amid depressed levels of consumer sentiment.
Why it matters: The current divergence between spending and mood reflects the major opposing forces in this strengthening economy. It also potentially foreshadows a slowdown in demand.
At their last policy meeting, most Federal Reserve officials said they would look to raise interest rates more quickly than planned if inflation doesn't come down. They emphasized the importance of remaining flexible as they move away from its ultra-easy monetary policies.
Driving the news: Minutes of the central bank's January policy meeting released Wednesday showed that Fed leaders are already on board with steeper, more rapid rate increases than in recent history — and would speed those plans up further if inflation continues at its scorching pace.
Trading.TV, a platform for live-streaming and stock trading, raised $8 million in Series A funding with Lightspeed Ventures leading the round and taking a board seat.
Why it matters: The company is tapping into the pandemic's surge of retail trading and social media engagement by combining the two into one platform.
A new report on January retail sales showed consumer spending was much better than expected early this year.
Driving the news: Last month's retail sales trounced expectations, rising 3.8%. (Economists expected a 1.8% bump in January.) They dropped 2.5% in December.
Driving the news: Bolt Financial, led by "Silicon Valley mob" foe Ryan Breslow, has begun offering loans to employees who want to buy their vested stock options.
Flutterwave, a Lagos-based digital payments platform, raised $250 million in Series D funding led by B Capital Group at a valuation north of $3 billion.
Why it matters: This makes Flutterwave the most valuable startup in Africa, topping OPay and Chipper Cash. It also comes amid a funding boom for fintechs operating in countries like Nigeria, where over half the population is unbanked.
Google announced Wednesday it will phase out cross-app ad trackers on Android smartphones, a move aimed at increasing data privacy for consumers using its operating system.
Why it matters: It's a major upheaval to how advertising and data collection will work on Android devices and comes after Apple last year placed new restrictions on apps that track behavior to tailor ads to users.
What if all the mid-tier U.S. department stores were jumbled together to become one big one? Sound crazy? Not to Joel Bines, a managing director and longtime consigliere to retailers at AlixPartners.
Why it matters: The mid-tier space, on the whole, has recovered from the pandemic, but it still faces heavy pressure from Amazon, as well as supply chain constraints and a host of other issues that are cutting into sales and growth for individual companies across the industry.
BlockFi's $100 million settlement on Monday could have broader implications for the crypto lending industry.
Why it matters: High-yield crypto savings accounts — marketed as an inflation hedge and a less-risky way to invest in digital assets — have become popular in the sector.
A growing number of companies are using chat bots and AI-led video interviews to assess job candidates before a human recruiter even meets them.
Why it matters: Automated interviews vastly expand the job candidate pool and are designed to ensure consistent hiring practices by rooting out ways that bias seeps into interviews, recruiters say. But job applicants complain they're dehumanizing and stressful.
A group of citizens in Connecticut is suing Hartford HealthCare, alleging the large hospital system has amassed monopoly power "to extract higher prices from insurers, employers, and patients."
Why it matters: This is another class-action lawsuit arguing hospital consolidation has crushed everyone's bank accounts and has led to the rise of anti-competitive contracts that force insurers and employers to accept take-it-or-leave-it terms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its pandemic travel health alert for cruise ships from "very high" to "high" on Tuesday.
Driving the news: CDC spokesperson Caitlin Shockey said in a statement that the agency lowered the travel health notice to Level 3 due to decreasing COVID-19 cases on cruise ships operating in the U.S., per the Washington Post.
CNN EVP and chief marketing officer Allison Gollust has resigned from her role after an independent investigation, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said Tuesday in a memo to staff, per the network's media correspondent.
Why it matters: Former CNN President Jeff Zucker was ousted earlier this month after it was found that he failed to properly disclose his relationship with Gollust.
The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a rule Tuesday to allow adaptive driving beam headlights, or smart headlights, in the U.S.
Why it matters: The technology, which relies on sensors and LED light, will help prevent crashes by allowing better illumination of pedestrians, animals and objects without impairing the visibility of drivers in other vehicles, NHTSA said.
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