U.S. schools, companies and investors are still failing to create equity for Black students and workers, particularly when it comes to computer science education and tech skills and jobs, a new report shows.
Why it matters: Failure to fix systemic problems within thetechpipeline and sector threaten to further exacerbate social and economic gaps Black Americans have been facing.
Companies including Nike and food packaging giant Imperial Dade will soon begin testing new kinds of thin-film packaging materials which could eventually reduce the vast amount of plastic entering the ocean every year.
Why it matters: Microplastic pollution not only destroys the natural cycle of global environments, it's now been detected in human blood for the first time.
UnitedHealth Group's Optum is forking out $5.4 billion in cash to penetrate home-based care after inking what Axios has just learned was a $1.2 billion deal to stake a material foothold in a red-hot sector: behavioral health.
Driving the news: UnitedHealth, via Optum Health, has agreed to acquire home care company LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) for about $170 a share, an 8.1% premium over LHC's closing share price Monday.
AIG (NYSE: AIG) filed IPO papers for its life insurance and retirement services arm, which will be renamed Corebridge Financial from SAFG Retirement Services.
Why it matters: This would be a giant float in any context, but it looms even larger against the backdrop of today's listless IPO market. SAFG reports $28.9 billion of equity value at the end of 2021, a premium that Blackstone paid for a 9.9% stake earlier in the year, and Renaissance Capital estimates that the IPO could raise $3 billion.
Media measurement firm Nielsen this morning accepted a $16 billion buyout bid from Elliott Management and Brookfield Asset Management, just one week after rejecting an offer that was around 10% lower.
Why it matters: In the midst of very turbulent capital markets, this story almost seems quaint.
RenewaFi, a New York-based climate tech startup that lets companies buy and sell renewable energy, raised $3 million in seed funding, the company tells Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: Now that renewable energy can be generated efficiently, investors see it as time to rethink the way companies buy and sell it.
Lee Enterprises has been quietly laying off top editors and other staff across its local papers. The cost-cutting moves come after an unsolicited takeover bid from Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for consolidating local news for profit.
Why it matters: Journalists at Lee-owned papers across the U.S. say that at this point, they don't know whether staying independent or a hedge fund takeover is worse. "If Alden is a cancer on journalism, Lee is COVID, MRSA and SARS," one former editor told Axios.
OnlyFans has held talks with multiple blank check companies, or SPACs, about a merger to take it public, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: OnlyFans is a massive social media platform, with millions of monthly users who've cumulatively paid out billions of dollars to creators. But its adult content has spooked some potential investors and SPAC partners.
Gyrating bond yields are warping the yield curve, an effect that’s becoming more pronounced, and its implications more confusing.
Driving the news: Investors are bidding up shorter-dated interest rates more than longer-dated, a condition known as a flattening yield curve, which Axios' Matt Phillips warned last week is a recessionary bellwether.
Media measurement firm Nielsen Holdings on Tuesday said that has agreed to a $16 billion private equity takeover, just one week after rejecting a $15 billion buyout bid from the same group.
Why it matters: The deal allows Nielsen to continue its transition from linear to digital media measurement without the hot spotlight of the private markets.
Since the Fed started raising rates earlier this month, banks wasted little time pushing up the rates they charge credit card holders on their balances. But when it comes to the interest that folks earn on their savings accounts — those rates aren't budging much.
Why it matters: Time to play another round of "banks win, people lose." Financial institutions can earn more on credit card debt and regular folks can watch inflation erode their savings.
More than two years after COVID-19 upended the world of work, signs of a slow-motion crackup in office real estate are emerging.
Why it matters: Fresh commercial real estate data suggest that working from home (WFH) is becoming a permanent feature of the American economy, a development that has major implications for everything from housing prices to transportation policy to municipal finance.
State of play: The most high-profile league in the world's most popular sport is now under heightened scrutiny after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, amid a crescendo ofaccusations that it's become a vehicle for state-affiliated billionaires to flex their countries' soft power.
Why it matters: As more of our favorite foods are pressed into service as insert-a-coin-and-wait-for-it items, will the shopping mall food court ever be the same?
Grabbing a cold beverage at your local retailer is turning into a high-tech digital odyssey, with ordinary cooler doors coming alive to offer up product information, deals and — yes — advertisements.
Why it matters: The imposing digital screens, which play full-motion video, aim to meld the experience of online shopping with brick-and-mortar stores. But they also transfer one of the biggest annoyances of the internet — pop-up ads — to the physical world. And not everyone loves that, as CNN reported.
Vice President Harris will return Wednesday to her alma mater, Howard University, for a Greater Washington Partnership announcement of $4.7 billion in commitments over five years to increase the diversity of Capital Region businesses and workers.
Why it matters: The partnership — an alliance of CEOs and community leaders from Baltimore to Richmond — believes that in the global war for talent, the region's economic future will be tied to being more inclusive.
Driving the news: The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said earlier on Monday that it condemns Smith's actions. Smith, who won the Oscar for Best Actor on Sunday night, will be subject to a formal review.
