Axios

WeWork on Wednesday disclosed another quarter of rapid growth and large losses, its first earnings report since confidentially filing for an IPO, with co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann telling Axios that his company has a much different story to tell than Uber or Lyft.

Why it matters: WeWork has revolutionized commercial office space globally, but some investors are skeptical that it can ever turn a profit, let alone justify a valuation that venture capitalists last put at $47 billion.

As of Monday, the Trump administration has made $8.52 billion in direct payments to farmers through a 2018 aid program designed to counter losses stemming from the trade war with China, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson said.

Why it matters: President Trump promised aid of up t0 $12 billion, but the program stalled during the month-long government shutdown and major flooding in the Midwest has caused farmers additional pain. A prolonged trade war, which seems to be where the U.S. and China are headed, could force the Trump administration to renew the program.

The U.S. and China are negotiating specific dates, including as early as next week, for a delegation to travel to Beijing to revive trade negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: President Trump also plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next month, but senior administration officials told Axios this week that a trade deal with China isn't close and that the U.S. could be in for a long trade war. Market analysts at both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch have predicted a prolonged trade war could lead to an outright global recession.

Go deeper: Where Trump's trade war has hit American workers the hardest

CrowdStrike, a Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company, filed for a $100 million IPO on Tuesday. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq with Goldman Sachs as lead underwriter, and reports a $140 million net loss on $250 million in revenue for 2018.

Why it matters: This is the company best known for investigating the 2016 election hacking scandal, and it plans to go public as fears ramp up over interference attempts in 2020.

The White House does not plan to make a decision on whether to impose auto tariffs by President Trump's May 18 deadline and will instead delay the announcement by up to 6 months, Bloomberg reports.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Jonathan Swan: Trump's team has been looking for ways to punt the auto tariffs decision. The White House knows that if they pile on another set of tariffs now — especially the deeply unpopular auto tariffs, which use the dubious justification that importing foreign automobiles and auto parts constitutes a "national security threat" — then the stock market would collapse and Congress would revolt.

The trade war has been a boon for U.S. bonds, which had already seen significant buying for most of 2019.

Driving the news: U.S. Treasury yields fell to a 6-week low on Monday, as investors pushed yields on the benchmark 10-year notes back towards their lows of the year. And data shows investors are snapping up every kind of U.S.-issued bond they can get.

Axios has learned that Michael Wolff — who enraged President Trump with his international bestseller "Fire and Fury," about pandemonium in the first-year White House — will be out June 4 with a sequel, "Siege: Trump Under Fire."

Details: The book, "about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side," begins with Year 2 and ends with the delivery of the Mueller report. The publisher says: "'Siege' reveals an administration that is perpetually beleaguered by investigations and a president who is increasingly volatile, erratic, and exposed."

2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in Twitter thread Tuesday she's taking a "hard pass" on an invitation to appear at a Fox News town hall, calling the network "a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists."

The big picture: Warren's refusal to appear on the conservative-leaning network strikes a different tone than 7 of her 2020 Democratic peers, who have either agreed or are currently in talks to do a Fox town hall. Several candidates have defended going on Fox News as an opportunity to reach Trump supporters, but Warren said she won't let her name be used to help Fox News bring in advertising dollars.

President Trump dismissed the ongoing trade war, which kicked off in earnest this week, as "a little squabble with China" while speaking to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday.

The big picture: The effects of the trade war have been felt in industries across the country. Yesterday's announcement that China would seek to impose retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. set off Wall Street's worst day in months. And the bad news spread to Silicon Valley, where Uber's IPO lost billions in market value as it got caught up in the trade war storm, as well as America's heartland, where soybean farmers saw their prices — already sagging thanks to the ongoing trade dispute — sink to a 10-year low.

Go deeper: America is suffering for its trade war

Last year we told you about Tempo Automation, a startup doing high-tech contract manufacturing in San Francisco.

Flashback: It was formed with the idea that the ability to generate small runs and prototypes close to Silicon Valley can be worth the added cost of doing work in one of the priciest rents and highest labor costs around.

Despite the onslaught of bad headlines around cord cutting and the death of traditional TV, Madison Avenue hasn't given up on the big cable and broadcast networks just yet.

Driving the news: Despite viewership declines, Variety's Brian Steinberg reports that ad commitments saw an increase of 5.2% to more than $20.7 billion in 2018, citing data from Media Dynamics, a media consultancy.

Two of America's largest Spanish-language broadcasters rolled out fresh new slates of scripted programming at this year's UpFronts, including more minority characters and shorter formats.

Details: Univision unveiled a new series titled "El Corazón Nunca Se Equivoca" (The Heart is Never Wrong) about a gay couple making their way in Mexican society. Telemundo announced a new series called "Operación Pacífico" starring a female lead, based on themes about federal agents chasing after drug lords.

Spanish-language media is branching out locally, with more national outlets investing in local Hispanic coverage and more digital-first, Spanish-language news outlets emerging in small cities and towns across America.

Why it matters: The Hispanic population in the U.S. is increasing swiftly, leading to record-high numbers of Spanish-speaking households, according to U.S. Census data.

Comcast Corporation has agreed to sell its 33% stake in Hulu to the Walt Disney Company in five years, the companies announced Tuesday ahead of Disney's "UpFront" presentation to advertising executives in New York.

Why it matters: The deal means that Disney will become the full owner of Hulu. The entertainment giant will gain full operational control of the streaming service immediately.

Monday was a rough day for pharmaceutical companies on Wall Street. The SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF fell more than 4%, and that was a relief.

Driving the news: Generic drugmakers were hit by a price-fixing lawsuit filed by 44 states alleging 20 corporate defendants conspired to fix prices of more than 100 generic drugs, raising prices by more than 1,000%.

Univision, one of the largest U.S. Spanish-language broadcasters, is partnering with regional cable company Altice USA to provide Spanish-language digital news segments for Altice USA's seven hyperlocal TV stations throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Why it matters: The effort is part of a greater push by news companies across the U.S. to bring more Spanish-language media to local markets, especially ones that they already cover.

Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a 12-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders among daily Twitter users, a social network that is seen as skewing in Sanders' favor, according to a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.

Why it matters: Some pundits have declared that Biden, 76, would have a tough time appealing to millennials and other younger voters given his relatively moderate policy stances. But Biden even holds a one-point lead — well within the poll's margin of error — among daily Snapchat users, one of the youngest possible demographics.

Reports show China's intellectual property theft costs U.S. companies hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and Chinese businesses have clearly benefited from a government-manipulated currency, goods dumping and non-tariff barriers at the expense of American firms.

Why it matters: A lack of money is not America's problem, given its $21 trillion economy. But President Trump has yet to explain how a trade war victory benefits working people in places like Louisiana, Michigan and South Carolina who will suffer higher prices on account of his conflict.

Walmart "is rolling out a next-day delivery service to counter Amazon’s recent move to speed shipment times for top customers to just one day from two," writes Bloomberg's Matthew Boyle:

Why it matters: "The company wants to convince more of its in-store shoppers to buy online, because when they do they spend more than twice as much with the retailer."

Senior administration officials tell Axios that a trade deal with China isn't close and that the U.S. could be in for a long trade war.

The state of play: A senior administration official said the differences between the two sides are so profound that, based on his read of the situation, he can't see the fight getting resolved before the end of the year.

Soybean prices sunk to a 10-year low after the trade war escalated and left little hope that China — the world's biggest soybean importer —would resume buying U.S. soybeans.

Why it matters: Soybean farmers are once again at the center of a heightened trade war — targeted strategically by China. Some fear the damage may be irreversible. "We spent 40 years developing this trade relationship with China and in one fell swoop, it was all taken away," Bret Davis, a fourth-generation soybean farmer, tells Axios.