Americans are spendings less and less money in brick-and-mortar stores during the run-up to the holidays, shunning the crazy lines they once formed outside big-box stores on Black Friday.
The big picture: Shoppers plan to spend 57% of their budgets online but just 36% in physical stores, per a new Deloitte survey. Just 44% of shoppers say they will shop on Black Friday as much as in past holiday seasons, while 53% say they will rely on Cyber Monday as much as they have in the past.
The media and advertising industries are anxiously awaiting driverless cars because they'll create more opportunities for people to view media content and advertising.
The bigger picture: With a finite amount of time in a day, the media industry is doing whatever it can to capture and monetize more of your attention. Driverless cars are supposed to free up hours for people who were previously spending their time behind the wheel.
Why it matters: It's a setback for net neutrality advocates, but FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that California's agreement to delay demonstrates "that there is no urgent problem that these regulations are needed to address." Telecom companies reiterated their call for Congress to adopt national legislation.
Axios has confirmed that Megyn Kelly will not be returning to "Today" after her comments on blackface earlier this week.
The details: According to NBC, "the 9 a.m. hour will be hosted by other TODAY co-anchors," next week. Kelly is still in talks with the company about her future with NBC. Discussions likely center around Kelly's departure, as her run with the company comes to an end in year two of a three-year, $69 million contract. Kelly hired attorney Bryan Freedman, which could be a sign of a battle to come over the time remaining on her deal.
Editor's note: NBC is an investor in Axios and Andy Lack, chairman of NBC News and MSNBC, is a member of the Axios board.
Venture-backed tech companies are going public, but it’s less and less because they need cash.
The bottom line: For tech companies with access to seemingly unlimited private capital, other priorities — like founders' liquidity and market validation — eventually lead them to make the jump.
Two more suspicious packages, one addressed to Sen. Cory Booker in Camden, NJ and another addressed to former director of national intelligence James Clapper at CNN in New York, have been found.
Why it matters: These mark 12 explosive devices addressed to prominent Democrats and other critics of President Trump found this week.
In the 2018-2019 primetime TV season, 8.8% of all regular characters on broadcast shows were LGBTQ characters — the largest percentage ever recorded, Variety reports, citing new figures from GLAAD.
Why it matters: This is a big step in furthering representation of the LGBTQ community. The next milestone challenge for networks and TV creators is to get that number to 10% by 2020. According to Variety, there were more LGBTQ characters of color on broadcast shows this season than white LGBTQ characters, which was also a first.
