Some of America's most popular promotions are going behind the gates of loyalty programs.
Driving the news: Taco Bell has moved its World Series' free tacos to a members-only offer, while Starbucks and McDonald's serve up savings that used to be open to all like buy-one-get-one coffee and $1 soft drinks on their apps.
In separate letters to Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell this week, two Democratic lawmakers — Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and John Hickenlooper of Colorado — called on the U.S. central bank to slow its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes.
Why it matters: The Biden administration and many congressional Democrats have generally supported the Fed's rate-hiking campaign to fight record-high inflation, but now that appears to be changing as the policies bite. More Democrats are warning about potential damage to the labor market and other parts of the economy from the Fed's moves.
Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter restored the account of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, before Musk's official takeover of the social media company.
The latest: Twitter "did not consult with or inform me" before restoring Ye's page, said Musk, who announced Friday plans to form a new content moderation council before making any major profile reinstatements.
There's a distinctly dot-com-ish feel at the moment, as even tech companies that once seemed untouchable are taking massive tumbles in the stock market, Axios Markets author Matt Phillips reports.
Why it matters: Stocks that led the market for much of the past decade have fallen on hard times after surprisingly weak earnings from major tech companies.
ESPN+ will stream its first-ever exclusive NFL game this Sunday when the Broncos play the Jaguars in London (9:30am ET).
Why it matters: This is a milestone moment for the streaming platform, which continues to add more exclusive content as ESPN — which still relies heavily on monetizing linear TV — wades deeper into streaming.
Telegram has just created a big source of demand for the cryptocurrency built to collaborate with the hugely popular messaging app.
Driving the news: The company is going to start allowing people to buy and sell Telegram handles (user names on the app), but they have to use a cryptocurrency called toncoin (TON) to do it, as TechCrunch reported.
Former President Trump said Friday that "Twitter is now in sane hands" following Elon Musk's completed takeover.
Driving the news: Musk purged a number of Twitter execs Thursday night, including Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's longtime head of legal, policy and trust, who was in charge of significant account decisions, including suspending Trump.
A closely-watched indicator that tracks what employers pay workers in wages and benefits, rose 1.2% last quarter, the Labor Department said on Friday — a slightly cooler pace than compensation growth in the prior quarter.
Why it matters: The Employment Cost Index shows that wage growth is still hot. The data suggests that the Federal Reserve's fear of a wage-price spiral is — so far — not playing out as inflation pressure builds across the economy.
Elon Musk "freed" the bird on Thursday night, and with his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, he is already turning to the changes he has said he wants to implement.
State of play: Even after months of dramatic attempts to renege, Musk has talked for a while about the things he would want to change about the social media platform, from ending permanent bans to limiting content moderation.
It's finally over. Elon Musk owns Twitter, after seven months, two lawsuits and one poop emoji.
Why it matters: Twitter remains the global public square, despite its aging audience. When politicians or other power brokers want to share information or opinions, they usually do so via Twitter.
Twitter employees — including people in senior roles and those with lots of stock at stake — were left in the dark Thursday night as Elon Musk closed his deal to take over the company. They got the news on Twitter.
Why it matters: Employees have been through a wild ride over the past few months, being forced to continue operating a company without any assurance that their jobs or work would remain intact after the deal closed.
After this week's seismic collapse of leading autonomous driving startup Argo AI, it's tempting to think self-driving cars will never materialize. But as a tail-end baby boomer, I'm sticking with my long-held belief: Self-driving cars will be widely available just about the time authorities decide to yank my driver's license.
Why it matters: The promise of self-driving cars hasn't changed. They'll make the roads safer, reducing the roughly 43,000 fatalities from motor vehicle crashes each year in the U.S.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN Thursday that she does not see any signs of recession in the U.S. economy in the near future.
Why it matters: Her comments come in the wake of a GDP report from the Commerce Department that found the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.6% annual rate in the third quarter, ending the streak of back-to-back contractions that raised fears of a recession.
This article originally appeared in Axios Finish Line, our nightly newsletter on life, leadership and wellness. Sign up here.
If I could undo one thing from the past 15+ years of running Politico and Axios, it's this: indulging in bitterness over bad people or bad actions, Jim writes.
Why it matters: Every hour spent exacting revenge — or bemoaning bad values — is time not spent doing and building good things with good people.
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