Axios

A judge ruled Tuesday that Dominion Voting Systems can move ahead with a lawsuit against Fox News' parent company over its broadcasts of conspiracy theories alleging the 2020 election was rigged, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: Fox Corp. had asked the judge to dismiss the suit, but Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Dominion's allegations "support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion."

Growth in job postings has slowed in the tech and hospitality sectors, according to Indeed data reviewed by Bloomberg.

Why it matters: The decline in job postings suggests that companies may be reconsidering hiring for new positions in fears of a potential recession, Bloomberg writes.

A suspension of the federal gas tax would deliver a degree of relief at the pump, but don't expect a windfall of savings.

Why it matters: Drivers have been reeling from $5-a-gallon gas — more in some states — at a time when other prices have also been soaring.

• President Biden is weighing a suspension of the 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax, which has been steady for 29 years, and contributes to the Highway Trust Fund.

The big picture: The average driver of a large SUV — one of the most popular vehicle types in the country — would save about $4.60 a week, according to calculations by GasBuddy.

• That's about $239 a year, though it's hard to envision the gas tax suspension lasting that long.
• Altogether, it would equal savings of about $70 million per day for American drivers, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan tells Axios.

The impact: Based on $5 gas, a gas tax holiday would equal savings of less than 4% per gallon.

Yes, but: Cheaper gas could have a countervailing effect by increasing demand and then driving retail prices back up, De Haan warns.

• The nation's gasoline refinery capacity is already straining to keep up with demand. U.S. domestic gasoline stocks fell by 700,000 barrels to 217.5 million last week.
• A tax suspension "could exacerbate the imbalance between supply and demand that has led us to record high prices," De Haan says.

Keep in mind: Suspending the gas tax would also deprive the nation's infrastructure of critical dollars for improvements.

The bottom line: A federal gas tax holiday might gather bipartisan support in Washington, but it won't make a big dent at the pump.

Uber is bringing back shared rides in several U.S. cities, after halting the service for more than two years in an attempt to help protect riders — and drivers — from COVID-19.

Driving the news: Uber said Tuesday that UberX Share is arriving in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Oregon, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, with more cities to be added later in the summer.

Cannes, France — Puppies and other animals aren’t pulling in the same kind of attention as tutorial videos on Reels, Instagram’s answer to TikTok.

Why it matters: Big platforms including YouTube, Snap, Instagram and Facebook have all been trying to tap the engagement pipe created by TikTok's format.

Twitter's board is pushing Elon Musk's takeover forward, even as Musk continues to raise doubts about its fate.

Catch up quick: Twitter's board of directors unanimously recommends shareholders approve the $44 billion offer, according to a new regulatory filing.

• Meanwhile, in an interview with Bloomberg, Musk maintains that there are hurdles to overcome —including the number of fake accounts on the platform and securing debt financing.

The big picture: Twitter's stock, languishing below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share, reflects investor skepticism. But there is some external support for Musk's vision of the platform.

What they're saying: “[I]n our business … your success really depends on your ability to innovate and serve your community with a product that they really love to use," Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told Axios’ Sara Fischer yesterday during an Axios event at Cannes.

• "From a product perspective, I'm really excited to see how it evolves. And if it does, I think it can be great for the business overall.”

What to watch: Twitter's board has set October 24 as the deadline for the deal to be consummated.

A record 42 million Americans are expected to hit the road during the upcoming July 4 weekend despite historically high gas prices and inflation costs, AAA said Tuesday.

Why it matters: Gas prices have surged to record levels in recent weeks, causing pain at the pump. But those surging costs aren't stopping millions of Americans from traveling by car for Independence Day.

Broadway theaters in New York City will have a "mask optional" policy for July, the Broadway League announced Tuesday.

Driving the news: It's the latest COVID-19 related restriction to fall by the wayside amid declining case numbers in the city.

In the early 2010s, there was lots of talk about "currency wars" — the claim that major world central banks were in a race to the bottom with interest rates, competitively devaluing their nations' currencies to try to seize an economic advantage.

The intrigue: Now, that has been turned on its head. If anything, a reverse currency war is underway, with central banks tightening to avoid importing inflation.

Tim Stokely knows this is a fraught moment to talk up his new web3 startup, a celebrity digital collectables platform called Zoop. And he doesn't particularly want to discuss OnlyFans, the pornographic social media juggernaut he built and led before abruptly leaving last December.

• But when it comes to next acts, passion tops timing.

Why it matters: OnlyFans grew a multi-billion dollar business that not only leveraged sex, but also a keen understanding of how influencers and fans interact. Stokely and partner RJ Phillips, a onetime Morgan Stanley trader who later became an OnlyFans finance exec, believe they can apply those lessons to Zoop.

Ben Armstrong, aka "BitBoy Crypto," is a YouTube influencer who has taken payment to promote crypto. Everyone knows this, and he does not deny it. But what has him riled up lately is something he's both publicly endorsed and used as a customer.

That something is the crypto lender Celsius.

N2, a local magazine company, will rebrand next week as “Stroll,” bringing all of its 650+ local print magazines under the same branding, executives tell Axios.

Why it matters: The rebrand marks a major milestone for the company, which has grown to bring in more than $131 million in annual revenue.

The summer solstice marks the first day of summer and Tuesday also is the made-up holiday of National Smoothie Day.

Driving the news: With the record summer heat, restaurants are highlighting "cool" or frozen drinks. Starbucks announced the addition of two summer drinks on Tuesday, while 7-Eleven has a summer Slurpee deal ahead of its birthday on July 11 and limited-time deals for Smoothie Day.

Snap Inc. co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel on Monday endorsed Elon Musk's plans to turn Twitter into a "super app," or an app that provides multiple services in one mobile interface, citing Snapchat's own ambitions in that arena.

Why it matters: While some tech companies build or acquire separate apps for different services across their portfolio, like Meta or Google, Spiegel said, "We see the power in diversifying engagement across our service."

Ankler Media, an entertainment news company, has raised a $1.5 million seed round at a $20 million valuation, its CEO and editor-in-chief Janice Min tells Axios.

Why it matters: A bearish market has made it difficult for media companies to raise hefty sums at lofty valuations. Ankler Media’s modest raise and steady growth strategy is a likely path forward for most media upstarts.

The U.S. is expected to make history in 2026 when it becomes the first major media market in the world to see digital newspaper ad revenue eclipse print newspaper ad revenue, according to a new report from PwC.

Why it matters: Newspapers have been slower to migrate advertising revenues to digital than the broader publishing landscape because of their local footprint.

Remote work may be convenient, but it limits the number of people you meet on the job, a new analysis finds. And that can have downsides for employees and companies.

• The report follows similar research that found employees are more siloed in teams when they work remotely, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour last year.

Recent economic reports have repeatedly fallen short of expectations, suggesting slower growth is here.

Driving the news: Friday's report on industrial production failed to match consensus Wall Street forecasts. Factory output declined 0.1% in May. (The forecast was for 0.4% growth.)

Kellogg Company announced Tuesday that it will split itself into three independent companies.

Driving the news: Kellogg's North American cereal and plant-based foods businesses are being transformed into new, independent firms while the remaining business focuses on "global snacking" with international food products.

The share of creative skills within the advertising industry has decreased by 17% over the past five years​, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said in a speech at the annual Cannes Lions creative festival in France Tuesday.

Why it matters: In prioritizing tech and data skills at the expense of creative ones, the sector has lost more talent than it has gained relative to other industries.

Despite the high cost of groceries, people are eating at home to save money, using a combination of doctored takeout cuisine, new plant-based products (a category that's exploding) and lower-priced supermarket staples.

Why it matters: What's bad news for restaurants and some fast-food chains is good news for stores that sell prepared foods, new and exotic ingredients, and rock-bottom-cheap pantry items.

Getting fired used to be an awkward but straightforward affair: the worker gets called into a room, given the reasons for termination, explained the terms of their severance, and has their credentials summarily revoked.

Yes, but: The work-from-home revolution — with its heavy reliance on messaging, virtual meetings and other impersonal methods of communication — may be changing the rules of the firing game.

Stephen Colbert addressed on the CBS "Late Show" Monday night the detention of program staff members in a Capitol Hill office building last week.

Driving the news: "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" host said it's "shameful and grotesque" that some likened the arrests by Capitol Police of the production team that included Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a puppet voiced by Robert Smigel, to the deadly Capitol insurrection.

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov's Nobel Peace Prize was auctioned off for $103.5 million in a fundraiser for Ukrainian child refugees in New York City on Monday night.

Driving the news: The co-founder of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper has pledged all proceeds from the record sale of a Nobel medal at auction will go toward UNICEF's response to the crisis.