A transaction misstep could wipe out the debt Genesis owes to Gemini if a bankruptcy judge ends up siding with the now-bankrupt crypto lending unit of Digital Currency Group.
Why it matters: It is more likely than not that Gemini and its cofounders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, will have to go to trial over the claims dispute. And that means that the 340,000 investors in its Earn program will be waiting a long time before they recover any funds, according to Mark Pfeiffer, bankruptcy attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.
Tech layoffs continued this morning, with Spotify announcing plans to fire around 600 employees. That brings the monthly total to over 56,000, per tracking site Layoffs.fyi. including last week's monster cuts at both Alphabet and Microsoft.
The big question: Could this spark a surge in tech entrepreneurship? A sort of upside to the downturn? The answer is muddled.
Sales of huge pickups are sustaining carmakers, bringing in record profits — yet pedestrian and road safety advocates say today's massive trucks are a hazard, given their size, weight, and driver blind spots.
In a new Axios Visuals special project, we looked back over the past 50 years to examine the societal and lifestyle changes behind pickups' ever-increasing size.
In the second half of last year, Fed communications had the tone of a stern parent punishing a wayward child. "This is going to be painful, we hate to have to do this, but it's for your own good."
But something is shifting in these early days of 2023, with top officials at the central bank sounding, dare we say, a bit optimistic that they can vanquish inflation without Americans experiencing too much economic pain.
Say Technologies, a Robinhood subsidiary, is launching a new messaging feature that enables public companies to send tailored communications directly to retail investors within its network, and allows them to respond.
Why it matters: Newer trading apps, including Robinhood, Public and WeBull, are all competing for younger investors, and building ways to connect companies directly with shareholders.
Individual investors — through retail and private banks, wealth managers, and self-directed accounts — are expected to dominate global investing by 2030, making up more than 61% of worldwide assets.
That necessitates a shift toward more multi-channel, virtual and conversational communications, a report from consultancy Indefi concluded last year.
Microsoft on Monday announced a significant expansion of its partnership with OpenAI, the maker of generative AI juggernaut ChatGPT.
Why it matters: The new investment, previously reported to be around $10 billion, will provide OpenAI with the capital resources to continue improving and scaling ChatGPT.
Spotify on Monday said it is laying off 6% of its staff as part of cost-cutting measures and a broader organizational restructuring.
Why it matters: The moves, which will impact roughly 600 employees, are meant to help the company "control costs and speed up decision-making." In a challenging economic environment, "efficiency takes on greater importance," Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek said in a memo.
Union support hit near-record levels last year, with high-profile organizing at Amazon and Starbucks grabbing headlines. Yet at the same time union membership hit an all-time low in 2022.
Why it matters: The shortcomings can be pinned on a powerful mix of forces: institutional labor's missteps, well-funded corporate pushback, and weak federal/local laws have all helped suppress U.S union membership.
The average American household is now considered "rent-burdened," with a record-high share of renters spending more than 30% of income on rent each month, according to Moody's Analytics.
Why it matters: This is a painful surge for many, coming at a time when inflation (while on the decline) has driven up the cost of food and energy.
Activist investor Elliott Management has built a multi-billion dollar position in cloud software giant Salesforce, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Axios with a source close to the situation.
Why it matters: Elliott typically wants substantial change at the companies it targets, and it almost always gets what it wants.
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