Walmart said on Wednesday that customers under 21 would no longer be allowed to purchase firearms from its stores, CNBC reports.
"In light of recent events, we've taken an opportunity to review our policy on firearm sales. Going forward, we are raising the age restriction for purchase of firearms and ammunition to 21 years of age ... We are also removing items from our website resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys. Our heritage as a company has always been in serving sportsmen and hunters, and we will continue to do so in a responsible way."
— Walmart statement provided to CNBC
Why it matters: This follows Dick's Sporting Goods' move earlier Wednesday to no longer sell "assault-style" rifles, and a number of other corporate decisions after the Parkland shooting. Walmart said in its statement that the company does not sell "modern sporting rifles" or handguns.
In one of the hardest times to hire skilled workers in decades, Lowe's is running a pilot program offering $2,500 to its own employees if they will learn a master trade, such as electrician or plumber.
Why it matters: After four months of 4.1% unemployment, and the possibility it could drop to 3.5% this year, most companies are still resisting forming their own training programs to skill people up. Lowe's is an example of what we may see over the coming year and longer as companies become more desperate to fill skilled vacancies.
Triplebyte, a three-year-old San Francisco startup developing software and tools to assess engineers’ skills and match them to available jobs, has raised a $10 million Series A round led by Initialized Capital.
Why it matters: “Every business is gonna need to be a software business,” Initialized Capital co-founder Alexis Ohanian tells Axios, adding that the need for engineers is only going to increase.
As Marvel's "Black Panther" continues to break box office records worldwide in its first two weeks of release, a new diversity study from UCLA's Bunche Center reveals that minorities are leading the charge behind the biggest blockbuster hits.
"Diversity sells, and for the past five years, we've seen that all audiences, regardless of race, want to see diversity on-screen. They prefer movies that have diverse casts, and they prefer to watch TV that has diversity as well."
— Ana-Christina Ramón, who wrote the report with Darnell Hunt, to the LA Times
The U.S. consumer confidence index rose from 124.30 in January to 130.80 in February, its highest level since November 2000, reports the AP. The arrival of last year's tax cuts, in tandem with a strong labor market and low unemployment, are some of the key drivers of the improved outlook.
Why it matters: Since consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, economists tend to pay close attention to the monthly confidence index, per CNBC. "Overall, consumers remain quite confident that the economy will continue expanding at a strong pace in the months ahead," said Lynn Franco, the organization's director of economic indicators.
Trump has touted that the recent tax code overhaul would prompt companies to use extra funds to hike up their employees’ paychecks. While some companies have announced plans like this, others are using much of the extra cash to invest in their own companies by buying back shares, NYT’s Matt Phillips reports.
Why it matters: That’s an investment back into the companies which will likely enhance their stock prices, but it is “most likely to worsen economic inequality because the benefits of stocks purchases flow disproportionately to the richest Americans,” Phillips writes. The bottom line is what companies do with their extra wiggle room will determine how successful the tax code overhaul is for Republicans.
Alibaba is in talks to acquire the 60% stake it does not already own in Chinese food ordering and delivery platform Ele.me, according to the FT. The deal could value Ele.me at upwards of $9.5 billion, while sellers would include Baidu, Horizon Ventures and Sequoia Capital China.
Why it matters: Because this would provide Alibaba with its first in-house delivery workers and logistics network, things that global rival Amazon already has and is learning from.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will release research today that shows how consumers are creating their own “personal prime times”— or points of high-level engagement throughout the day across devices and content areas (news, sports, weather).
Adapted from an Interactive Advertising Bureau report; Graphic: Axios Visuals
Why it matters: The study suggests that brands should no longer expect a single, universal moment of greatest engagement from consumers throughout the day and that “traditional reach” metrics falter when they don't take consumer focus and intent into consideration.
The News Media Alliance (NMA), a newspaper trade group that represents over 2,000 newspapers in the U.S., is launching a political action committee (PAC) to ask Congress for an antitrust safe harbor against Google and Facebook.
Why it matters: It's the first-ever PAC created by the newspaper industry. It's a sign that the newspaper industry feels it needs to step up its lobbying efforts to survive in a digital-first era dominated by tech companies.
