Amazon is pausing construction on its sprawling second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the company confirmed to Axios' Jacob Knutson today.

Driving the news: The stoppage comes as the tech giant has announced sweeping job cuts in the wake of slowdowns in consumer and corporate spending.

• Bloomberg first reported the news of the construction pause.

Flashback: Virginia won the HQ2 sweepstakes after a drawn-out process that put it in competition with New York City (whose bid got squashed under political pressure).

The timeline of the HQ2 construction pause is still being determined, per a spokesperson.

• The spokesperson said the company's long-term intention and commitment, including its anticipated 25,000 corporate and tech jobs connected to the second HQ, remain unchanged.

The big picture: Beyond job cuts, Amazon in November announced a hiring pause for its corporate workforce.

• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last month the company will require most corporate employees to spend a minimum of three days in the office per week starting in May, updating work-from-home policies enacted because of the pandemic.
• The company also paused construction on sites in Bellevue, Washington, and Nashville, Tennessee, to redesign plans for office spaces.

💭 Hope's thought bubble: Separate but related from today's news, Amazon is closing eight cashier-less stores in Seattle, New York and San Francisco.

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Women leaders now run more than 10% of Fortune 500 companies, a milestone in the list's 68-year history, Hope writes.

Why it matters: Further progress is at risk as burnout rises among senior-level women, shrinking the C-suite pipeline.

• Companies, including Amazon and Goldman Sachs, are trying to combat an exodus of women executives with programs called "returnships," which focus on making jobs more appealing to women and people who have left the workforce, Jonnelle Marte writes in Bloomberg.

Zoom out: Globally, worker burnout is at a new high, with women more likely than men to report levels of mental and physical exhaustion.

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👩🏽‍🎓 Columbia University and William & Mary will use test-optional admissions. (Forbes)

🎧 De La Soul finally emerges from streaming limbo. (Axios)

📈 The world economy is doing well, in bad news for central bankers. (WSJ)

Drew Brees has exited one arena (football) to enter another, Javier writes.

• The retired signal caller works with the International Franchise Association. He’s a franchise owner himself, with stakes in several eateries like Jimmy John’s and Walk-Ons Sports Bistreaux.

Why it matters: Even when part of globe-spanning brands, franchisees are actually small businesses, which Brees explained to Axios in an exclusive interview.

What he’s saying: “A major benefit of being part of a franchise system is that you have a support structure for whatever you need, which is different from a mom-and-pop operation where you’re on your own,” Brees tells Axios. “You don’t have a support network that’s there to set you up for success.”

Zoom out: The IFA estimates that nearly 800,000 U.S. franchise establishments bolster over 8 million jobs, contributing nearly 3% to the gross domestic product.

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A hot spot in Brooklyn just killed its brunch service because the food was too good, Hope writes.

• Persistent staffing shortages at Bonnie's couldn’t keep up with customer demand amid limited kitchen space for extra ingredients. Because diners saved their calories for solid food, profit margins shrunk from lower drink sales.

What they’re saying: “It’s not worth doing, to put everyone through that for the reward that comes out of it,” owner and head chef Calvin Eng told Eater. 

The big picture: Economic aftershocks of the pandemic — pent-up demand for out-of-home activities and a tight labor market — continue to reverberate and reshape businesses.

"Sixty years ago, my mom came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldn't afford a passenger ticket. Recently, she got a call from the president of the United States telling her that her daughter was going to be nominated to be U.S. labor secretary."