May 6, 2018

Elon Musk and Warren Buffett in a candy clash

In Walnut Creek, Ca. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty

Elon Musk says he's starting a candy company, a direct challenge to Warren Buffett's most trumpeted moat of all — the market power enjoyed by iconic See's Candies, which the investment titan has owned for four decades.

What's going on: In a to-and-fro in recent days, Musk has scorned one of Buffett's primary investment principles — to buy companies enjoying a type of monopolistic power that he calls a "moat," reports Fortune's Jen Wieczner. And Buffett has defended his theory. “Elon may turn things upside down in some areas," Buffett said, "[but] I don’t think he’d want to take us on in candy. There are some pretty good moats around,” report Bloomberg's Katherine Chiglinsky, Noah Buhayar and Sonali Basak.

This was a red cape for the super-competitive Musk, who fired off successive tweets yesterday evening:

Notwithstanding his assertion, no one knows if we are going to see Musk candy any time soon. But he seemed to be enjoying himself. After a few hours of more tweets, he ended with this:

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Rebecca Falconer

In photos: Deadly Storm Dennis lashes U.K., Ireland and western France

A family is rescued from a property in Nantgarw, Wales, on Sunday. The storm comes a week after the U.K. was battered by storm Ciara, which killed two people, per the BBC. Photo: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

Storm Dennis continued to pummel parts of England, Wales and Ireland over Sunday night with heavy rain after battering Northern Ireland and Scotland, per the official British weather agency the Met Office.

Why it matters: It's the second-strongest nontropical storm ever recorded in the North Atlantic Ocean, with its hurricane-force winds and heavy rains that caused widespread flooding across the U.K., the Washington Post notes. Police in Wales confirmed Sunday they found the body of a man who fell into a river as the storm lashed Ystradgynlais.

See photos44 mins ago - World

Axios

Sanders accuses Bloomberg of trying to "buy" the 2020 election

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg. Photos: Drew Angerer; Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders tore into 2020 rival Michael Bloomberg at a Las Vegas campaign event Saturday, saying the billionaire and former New York mayor is trying to "buy the presidency" by paying millions of dollars in advertising.

Why it matters: Bloomberg has surged in national polling recently, having poured millions of dollars into campaign ads largely targeting Trump. His candidacy has become an obvious foil for Sanders, whose grassroots campaign railing against billionaires and the establishment has vaulted him to front-runner status.

Go deeperUpdated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Axios

Coronavirus cases rise, as more Americans on cruise confirmed ill

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's NHC; Note: China refers to mainland China and the Diamond Princess is the cruise ship offshore Yokohama, Japan. Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios

A U.S. public health official confirms more than 40 Americans on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan have coronavirus, while the remaining U.S. citizens without symptoms are being evacuated.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 1,770 people and infected almost 70,000 others. Most cases and all but five of the deaths have occurred in mainland China. Taiwan confirmed its first death on Sunday, per multiple reports, in a 61-year-old man with underlying health conditions. Health officials were investigating how he became ill.

Go deeperUpdated 5 hours ago - Health