Philip Morris USA parent Altria Group is poised to re-enter the vaping space as the tobacco industry looks to e-cigarettes for much-needed revenue growth.
Driving the news: Marlboro seller Altria disclosed Friday that it had ended its noncompete agreement with Juul, after the value of its investment in the vaping company imploded when federal regulators moved against Juul’s products.
Florida's theme parks, including Disney World and Universal Studios, started reopening Friday, while Busch Gardens was planning to reopen Saturday after the state's major tourist attractions closed due to Hurricane Ian.
Why it matters: More than 1.8 million customers in the state remained without power Friday after the major storm made landfall in southwest Florida Wednesday and moved across the state, unleashing widespread life-threatening storm surge floods.
A new court filing shows that Elon Musk's phone buzzed with text messages from a number of celebrities, media personalities, and business leaders in the lead-up to his bid to buy Twitter.
Why it matters: The text messages, revealed in a court filing Thursday, offer a rare glimpse into the private conversations of the wealthiest man on the planet and other powerful figures as he looked to buy the social media company.
More than 1.6 million Florida customers — about 15% of the state — remained without power Friday afternoon from Hurricane Ian as restoration efforts continued in the state.
The big picture: Ian unleashed widespread life-threatening storm surge flooding after making landfall as a high-end Category 4 storm near Cayo Costa Wednesday afternoon. Officials in coastal communities were responding to multiple water rescues. In Port Charlotte, storm surge flooded a hospital emergency room, per AP.
Target has a rare deal on one of the top holiday gifts ahead of its upcoming Deal Days sale, an early holiday shopping event.
Driving the news: Now through Saturday, Oct. 1, the retailer is offering 10% off store gift card purchases up to $500 through its Target Circle loyalty program — for a maximum savings of $50.
Chamath Palihapitiya is seeking to raise billions of dollars in outside capital for his venture capital firm, Social Capital, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: This comes four years after Palihapitiya effectively turned Social Capital into a family office, controversially shunning longtime limited partners and slimming down the firm's investment and operations teams.
The crypto C-suite and senior leadership have seen a rash of departures recently, with some stepping down amid scandal and others merely moving on.
The big picture: CEO turnover in the U.S. jumped 8% in August from the previous month, led by departures in the technology and fintech sectors, according to recent research from Challenger Gray & Christmas. Peak turnover tends to hit during economic highs and lows, senior vice president Andrew Challenger tells Axios.
The Fed faces dual risks of raising interest rates too much or too little, its No. 2 official said in a speech Friday morning delivered against the backdrop of a tumultuous period for world financial markets.
Driving the news: Global interest rates have soared and stock markets plunged as investors react to concerted monetary tightening by the Fed and other central banks. In her new speech, Fed vice chair Lael Brainard emphasized that the Fed will proceed both "deliberately and in a data-dependent manner" in its policy.
Wall Street banks have canceled a $3.9 billion debt sale tied to Apollo Global Management's $7.5 billion deal for the ILEC assets of Lumen Technologies, after failing to find enough investor interest.
Why it matters: This is a rapid devolution of the "debt ceiling" we discussed on Monday, after banks took a $700 million loss on Citrix debt, and creates new questions for other existing agreements (including Elon Musk's limbo deal for Twitter).
"The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah said Thursday he's leaving the Comedy Central program after seven years at its anchor desk, telling his studio audience he wanted to devote more time to stand-up comedy.
Why it matters: The 38-year-old comedian — who was born in South Africa and moved to the U.S. in 2011 — took over in 2015 after the exit of Jon Stewart, Reuters reports.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reports in her book — "Confidence Man," out Tuesday — that former President Trump had threatened internally to go after her phone records to expose leakers.
Driving the news: "Trump, angry about my published stories, would bellow that he wanted administration officials to obtain my phone records and identify my sources," Haberman writes.
Gasoline-powered cars could soon start to disappear, but car dealers aren't going anywhere, in part because they're protected by strong franchise laws.
Their business is changing fast, however, as car sales move online and electric vehicles get more popular.
Everyone in the mergers and acquisition space knew that deal activity slowed in the third quarter, but it still hits different when the hard numbers arrive.
Driving the news: Global M&A volume was $642 billion between July and September, a 42% drop from the prior quarter and the lowest Q3 figure in a decade, per preliminary figures from Refinitiv. It's also the slowest overall quarter since pandemic-ravaged Q2 2020.
The greatest free gift you can give others — and yourself — is time.
Why it matters: An easy, universally applicable way to deliver this gift is to just stop.Just stop sending hazy notes. Just stop hiding soggy thinking in a vomit of words. Just stop writing and talking for yourself.
