Axios

Sears Holdings laid off 220 employees from its corporate headquarters in Illinois on Wednesday as part of an ongoing restructuring process that includes closing a number of stores, CNBC reports.

What's next: "Coming off a disappointing holiday season, Sears is looking for ways to drive sales and is considering further monetizing some of its other assets, including the Kenmore and DieHard brands, and Sears Home Services," per CNBC.

Total employee compensation in the U.S. rose in the fourth quarter of last year and marked the highest year-over-year gain since 2008, Bloomberg reports. Private-sector wages and salaries also rose 2.8% in Q4, continuing the upward trend.

Why it matters: "The latest year-over-year increase in compensation indicates employers are making more generous offers as they compete for workers in the tightening labor market," Bloomberg's Sho Chandra writes.

The year is 2034 — 16 years from now, writes Variety's Todd Spangler — and the way you watch sports could be quite different.

The state of play: "[N]o company is known to be making a play for the rights to the Olympics just yet. But as NBC is set to blanket the two biggest sporting events on American calendars — Super Bowl LII (Feb. 4) and the 2018 Winter Olympics (Feb. 9-25) — across screens everywhere next month, tech titans are making an unmistakable advance on sports telecasts."

Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon — the billionaire leaders of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — sent shockwaves through the health care industry yesterday when they disclosed plans to start a not-for-profit company with the hope of reducing medical costs for their employees.

Reality check: A lot of companies have promised to "disrupt" health care, but few have succeeded. The U.S. still spends wildly on a system with poor outcomes. It's far from clear this new conglomerate, premised on a vague PR, will be able to do any better.

Right-wing personality Mike Cernovich is bidding $500,000 in cash for Gawker.com, Vanity Fair reports. Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel is also reportedly trying to buy the media website.

Why it matters: The buyer of Gawker.com (the rest of Gawker Media's properties were acquired by Univision last year) will be able to do with its contents as they please, including deleting specific articles. There are still ongoing legal actions over a few articles in the archives, per Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva.

Former Fox News co-host Andrea Tantaros said in a proposed amended complaint that late former network CEO Roger Ailes "secretly watched female hosts changing clothes on company surveillance equipment," BuzzFeed reports.

Why it matters: Tantaros first filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox in 2016. On Monday, she alleged "Ailes had a CCTV system that allowed him to see inside Fox News offices," per BuzzFeed, where "most Fox female talent...disrobed daily."

Vice Media has fired Mike Germano, its chief digital officer, according to multiple reports, after the New York Times published an investigation in December detailing allegations of unwanted sexual advances he made on two women.

The backdrop: Germano was previously suspended following the Times report, as well as Andrew Creighton, president of the media company.

Go deeper: More than 24 women come forward with stories of sexual harassment at Vice

Stock prices of many of the largest health care companies fell heavily this morning on the news that Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway would team up to create a company that would "address health care for their U.S. employees."

The big picture: Just mentioning "Amazon" and "health care" in the same sentence is enough to throw the health care watchers on Wall Street into a tailspin.

CNN will sunset a number of digital initiatives this year in an effort to stay nimble, Axios has learned. The company will also launch new projects as it continues to test what resonates best with its audience and drives revenue.

Why it matters: Big-money projects and restructuring are part of the network's commitment to pivoting its business model towards profitability, even if it means cutting ties with major investments.

The coming release of a secret House memo, hotly sought by conservatives, will intensify the great muddying of the Russia investigation in the public's mind.

Why the memo matters: Trump's allies are betting that when all is said and done — and when special counsel Bob Mueller has completed his report — the American people will be so thoroughly disgusted with everyone that the political outcome is a wash.

Facebook's announced Monday that it would begin prioritizing local news content in the News Feed. The news follows Google's confirmation last week that it's testing a hyper-local news app called Bulletin. Chief executives from local publishing groups have responded well to both efforts in statements to Axios.

Why it matters: Local and national news outlets have for months been split on the way they view their publishing relationships with Google and Facebook.

Corporate profits have dramatically outpaced wages and health benefits since the turn of the century, leaving workers on the hook for more of their health care costs even as their purchasing power falls, according to a review of federal data.

Key quote: "If I were a middle-class American, I’d be outraged," said Regina Herzlinger, a professor at Harvard Business School. "I’d demand much greater transparency about how much I’m getting in health insurance and wages."

MoviePass, the mobile app that allows users to access one theater movie ticket daily for a $9.95 flat monthly fee, has withdrawn from 10 of AMC’s popular theaters, resulting in a standoff between the country's largest theater chain and the digital subscription service that MoviePass says drives the majority of AMC's revenue.

Why it matters: The same economics problem that led to the collapse of the newspaper industry, and that's currently haunting cable, is also happening to the theater industry: Viewership (in this case, admissions) is down, but the average price of movie tickets continues to climb.