Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce gargantuan, says it isn't in a race with Amazon for U.S. customers, but that it is eager to take U.S. merchandise to its 550 million customers in China.
Why it matters: American politicians and technologists are unusually sensitive to what's often perceived as China horning in on American customers, markets and tech. But they may be missing a different game — using an elaborately built system, Alibaba is linking U.S. merchants directly to millions of Chinese customers, bypassing Amazon and other American platforms as an essential way-station to the Chinese market.
At a time technologists are stressing that, to stay employed, workers need to keep learning their whole lives, the graduate business school at the University of Michigan is offering alumni lifetime rights to return for refresher classes for free.
Quick take: The idea of the "open loop university," as it's called, was conceived two years ago at Stanford University. Rather than a traditional degree consisting of four consecutive years after high school, students can accumulate six years of Stanford classes as it suits them and their career throughout their lives.
The backdrop: Since the President Trump was elected in 2016, the U.S. has dropped from 41st to 45th in Reporters Without Borders' rankings. However, it ranked as low as 47th in 2011 during the Obama administration — despite ranking as high as 20th in 2009.
Comcast today announced a $31 billion takeover bid for European television giant Sky, which subsequently pulled its support for an already agreed-upon deal with21st Century Fox. Comcast's bid was 16% higher than Fox's, on a share vs. share basis.
The big picture: For Comcast, interest in Sky is a no-brainer. The U.S. telecom giant needs streaming assets to compete on a global stage against tech behemoths like Netflix.
Viacom has increased revenue from its addressable (data-based) advertising and branded content (native advertising and social) portion of its ad business by 29% year-over-year, the company announced as part of their quarterly earnings report Wednesday.
Why it matters: The network's efforts to increase this type of revenue via investments in ad technology are seen by many analysts as a core component of its offerings in a merger with CBS, which both companies are currently evaluating.
Sinclair Broadcast Group said on Tuesday that it would sell 23 stations if its merger with Tribune goes through, including three stations in top 10 markets — Chicago, Dallas and Houston.
The big picture: The deal with Tribune "further solidifies Sinclair's already massive hold on the local TV broadcast industry."
Republicans' strategy for today's special House election in Arizona was to target digital ads to GOP early voters — and it appears to have paid off, with the share of early voters from each party about on par with the past few cycles.
Why it matters: Although the district is deep red and isn't expected to flip, this counters the trend of high Democratic turnout and depressed GOP turnout in other special elections. Micro-targeting voters and digital ads are also part of a larger Republican strategy to protect the House in November.
The Dow on Tuesday fell 425 points (1.73%) and the Nasdaq was off 121 points (1.7%). But it could have been worse, as the Dow at one point was down more than 600.
Religion of Sports Media, a startup whose co-founders include Tom Brady and Michael Strahan, has raised $3 million in a venture capital round co-led by Advancit Capital and Courtside Ventures.
This is the sports storytelling company responsible for the recent Tom vs. Time series on Facebook.
Deepen Parikh of Courtside Ventures tells Axios why the startup sought outside capital: "The founders are all actively involved and participated in the round, but are serious about building a much larger company so they wanted to bring in strategic expertise and aligned partners."
A U.S. bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday approved the sale of 82 Toys "R" Us stores in Canada to Toronto-based Fairfax Financial, although the C$300 million deal still requires Canadian bankruptcy court approval.
Stateside: Isaac Larian, founder of the Bratz toys franchise, is continuing in his efforts to purchase around 200 high-performing Toys "R" Us stores in the U.S. His strategy would be to reimagine the stores as a "mini-Disneyland in each neighborhood."
Adidas North America president Mark King is stepping down from his post on July 1 after four years in the position in a "seamless transition," the company announced Tuesday.
Flipboard is launching an array of new features in an effort to hone its tech coverage.
Why it matters: "We already have significant number of people who follow tech on Flipboard," says CEO Mike McCue. "This gives us a stage on which to have our partners and curators really build relationships with that audience."
Sears CEO and majority shareholder Eddie Lampert has offered to buy the company's Kenmore brand, plus several other assets.
Why it's a big deal: Lampert is showing that he'll never cut bait — even through his line appears to have caught a blue whale and he's sitting in a kayak.
DoorDash has inked a deal with Walmart to provide grocery delivery services for the retailer’s stores in the Atlanta area, the companies said on Tuesday.
Why it matters: This is part of DoorDash’s recent foray beyond restaurant deliveries so it can compete with diversified rivals like Postmates and UberEats. For Walmart, it’s undeniably about continuing its war with Amazon after the tech giant's acquisition of Whole Foods, which it’s using to bolster its grocery business. Walmart has been testing grocery delivery with other partners for a while now, including Uber, Lyft, and Deliv.
The account of popular progressive Instagram model @lilmiquela (1 million followers) was supposedly "hacked" last week by popular pro-Trump instagram model @bermudaisbae (64k followers). While details around the hack are hazy, a photo of the models together suggests that the event was coordinated. Instagram says "there’s no indication that the account in question was compromised."
Yes, but: Neither model is real, although one is verified by Instagram. They are computer-generated imagery (CGI) models with massive followings and in some cases have racked up real advertising deals and music profiles. (Music by @lilmiquela is listed on Spotify and Apple Music.)
On the heels of landing an on-camera interview with FBI Director James Comey, theSkimm has launched a free 2018 Primary Election Calendar to push its audience to vote this year.
Why it matters: The six-year-old newsletter company has amassed an audience of seven million mostly millennial women, and its using that loyal fanbase to influence the political landscape and push readers to vote.
