Nvidia appears poised to tighten its ties with OpenAI as it reportedly explores a deal to backstop financing for a massive data center to power the ChatGPT maker's ambitions.

⭕️ Why it matters: The potential deal underscores the swift pace of the AI economy, but it also renews concerns that the increasingly circular nature of AI deals could create systemic financial risks.

• Nvidia shares fell 5% today, wiping out about a quarter-trillion dollars in market cap.

📸 The big picture: Nvidia, which is making oodles of cash, is using its financial heft to buoy its customers, which are losing oodles of cash.

• The company is weighing a plan to guarantee $250 billion for an OpenAI data center project in southern Ohio, WSJ and Bloomberg reported.
• It's also reportedly considering a separate deal to finance OpenAI's purchase of $350 billion in Nvidia chips.

These are things you can consider when your market cap is hovering around $5 trillion and your profit margin is an astonishing 75%.

• But the possibility of more circular deals — you buy from me, I invest in you, and everything's fine unless one of us has a problem, in which case both of us have a problem — soured the debt market on Monday.
• The price of credit default swaps on Nvidia bonds — which provide a version of bond-default insurance to investors — recorded their highest intraday increase since they started to actively trade in November, according to ICE Data Services figures cited by Bloomberg.

Read more

The Cracker Barrel CEO who guided the company through a marketing transformation that generated a MAGA backlash is leaving the company.

🧾 Why it matters: The restaurant and retail chain has been mired in a sales slump after the controversy prompted it to reverse course on its plan to modernize its logo and dining rooms.

Driving the news: Julie Masino — who apologized last year for the change — will step down from her role as CEO and board member as of Aug. 10.

• David Deno — a former CEO of Bloomin' Brands, the owner of Outback Steakhouse — will take over as CEO of Cracker Barrel and join the company's board.

Flashback: MAGA figures were angry at the company for eliminating the "Uncle Herschel" character from its logo and changing interior decor, calling Cracker Barrel woke.

• Masino quickly ditched the plan, but the crisis left a long-lasting mark.

Read more

🏭 Philip Morris International is doubling its investment in a new Zyn factory in Colorado to $1.2 billion. Sales of the nicotine pouches are surging. (Axios Arapahoe County)

🛰️ Amazon is asking the FCC for permission to launch satellite service for a cellphone network, heightening its rivalry with SpaceX. (Bloomberg)

🪖 Ford landed a Defense Department contract to make a tactical version of its Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks for military use. GM, the company's arch rival, was already working on a version of its own for the Pentagon. (WSJ)

⚖️ The small businesses that brought two high-profile legal challenges to President Trump's trade agenda are suing to block the latest round of tariffs. (Axios)

NBCUniversal and YouTube have struck a broad, multiyear deal to bundle ad-supported Peacock Premium with YouTube Premium, beginning in 2027, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.

Zoom in: NBC gets a stronger distribution deal for Peacock Premium, while YouTube gets access to premium programming.

• The new deal officially extends NBCU's multiyear distribution partnership with YouTube TV for its linear channels and extends its parent Comcast's distribution partnership with various YouTube products.
• The agreement also deepens the companies' long-standing advertising and technology relationship while creating new opportunities for both firms across sports production and live sports on YouTube.

Go deeper