Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines said that they would allow some passengers who were banned from their flights due to mask violations to board their planes again on a case-by-case basis, CNN reports.
Why it matters: The move is part of a surge in unionization efforts across the nation, with recent wins by both Amazon and Starbucks workers. It's the 26th Starbucks store and second U.S. roastery to unionize.
A portfolio company of BlackRock fund (NYSE: BLK) intends to make a proposal to transact with certain non-core assets of Tabula Rasa Healthcare (Nasdaq: TRHC), according to a letter of intent disclosed in a 13D filing on Thursday.
Why it matters: Tabula Rasa, working with Citigroup, was in advanced discussions regarding the sale of non-core assets, including PrescribeWellness, Axios reported in late March.
Private equity invested a record-breaking $27 billion-plus in cleantech companies in 2021, according to a new report provided exclusively to Axios from PitchBook and the American Investment Council.
Why it matters: Private equity firms liked the predictability that the Biden administration and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law brought to the markets, but the true test of private equity's commitment will come in next year's report covering the tumultuous 2022.
Lest there remain any doubt, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell knocked it down Thursday: The Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates half a percentage point at its policy meeting in two weeks, the first such move in 22 years.
Driving the news: In a panel discussion at the IMF Thursday, Powell said that it is appropriate "to be moving a little more quickly" on rate hikes and that financial markets are "acting appropriately generally" as they have adjusted for those expectations.
There are two "leading" forks of the two biggest blockchains, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic — neither of them are doing great, compared to their parent chain.
Why it matters: Because blockchains run on open-source software, they can always be forked — the term for when someone makes a change that's not approved by the developers in charge of a codebase. This provides a check on the developers who maintain that codebase, making sure they don't veer wildly away from what their users want.
Traditional money is speeding up. The Federal Reserve has promised a new service to banks and credit unions around the country called FedNow, a 24/7 payment settlement service.
Why it matters: More and more services function round the clock, but payments are still on something of a 9-to-5 schedule. For payments in the U.S., FedNow will really settle payments immediately, all day, every day.
Barack and Michelle Obama are parting ways with Spotify, Bloomberg first reported and Axios Pro's Tim Baysinger confirmed.
Why it matters: The breakup comes as Higher Ground, the former first family’s production company, and Spotify have clashed over the past 3 years of their partnership, according to Bloomberg.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the newly-combined company that includes CNN parent WarnerMedia and Discovery, is shutting down CNN+, sources familiar with the matter tell Axios. The subscription streaming service will cease operations on April 30.
Why it matters: CNN+ launched just a few weeks ago with a $300 million investment. It's being shuttered due to a strategic misalignment between Discovery executives and CNN executives.
Monday was an important deadline in Washington for the crypto industry: comments on a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to expand the definition of "exchange" were due. In short: it's getting a big thumbs down.
Why it matters: The crypto industry is mostly worried that the definition would become too broad and vague and could easily encompass — or at least create uncertainty for — decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and other participants that should not be regulated as such.
William Hockey in 2012 co-founded Plaid, a fintech company that's since raised over $700 million and was recently valued at $13.4 billion. Now he's back with a new startup called Column, but doesn't want any venture capital investment.
Hockey stepped down as Plaid's president and chief technology officer in 2020, but remains on its board of directors.
Boring Company, the urban tunneling transportation company founded by Elon Musk, raised $675 million in Series C funding at a $5.68 billion valuation co-led by Sequoia Capital and Vy Capital.
Why it matters: Urban transportation tunnels aren't new, for either cars or trains, but Boring has claimed its shuttles eventually will travel at a breakneck 150 miles per hour. In Las Vegas, which recently approved a 29-mile tunnel network, that could mean more than 55,000 passengers per hour and a significant reduction to Strip traffic.
Elon Musk on Thursday disclosed in a federal securities filing that he doesn't yet have any equity partners on his takeover bid for Twitter, but said that he has secured billions of dollars worth of loan commitments from Morgan Stanley.
Why it matters: Musk is saying he can afford to buy Twitter, either via last week's $43 billion offer, to which Twitter's board hasn't yet responded, or via a hostile tender offer that would be taken straight to company shareholders.
Jeff Ricchetti, the brother of senior White House official Steve Ricchetti, has been lobbying for the drug industry's top trade group, records show.
Why it matters: Ricchetti has pledged not to lobby the West Wing, but his newly disclosed deal with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a top K Street spender, shows corporate America still sees significant value in his services.
Activision Blizzard is adding two women senior executives to its board, sources familiar told Axios. The company is expected to announce soon that Lulu Cheng Meservey is joining immediately and that it will nominate Kerry Carr for election at its annual meeting in June.
Soaring U.S.interest rates have propelled the greenback to its strongest in nearly two years.
Why it matters: The resurgent dollar helps contain inflation, making imported goods cheaper. But it could become a headache for multinationals, as it crimps earnings when companies convert revenues earned abroad into dollars.
One of the most important numbers in the financial world — the yield on the 10-year Treasury note — is about to cross a major milestone.
Driving the news: Real 10-year Treasury yields — that is, bond yields after adjusting for inflation — are poised to scramble back into positive territory for the first time since the pandemic hit.
Meetings ofglobal finance ministers and central bankers tend to be polite affairs, verging upon horribly boring. But with a dramatic walkout on Wednesday, American, Canadian and some European officials showed that the schisms between Russia and Western allies are deep enough to change that.
Why it matters: The dedication of Western powers to using all economic tools available to make Russia a pariah state has become ever more evident, now backed by a vivid gesture on the biggest stage of financial diplomacy.
The numbers are in: Venture capital deployment in the U.S. slumped in Q1, per the latest PitchBook data.
Why it matters: This is largely a knock-on effect of the public market pullback that kicked off late last year. Companies are rethinking near-term public listing plans, and investors are recalibrating deal sizes — particularly when it comes to late-stage funding.
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