Amazon shares surged after-hours Thursday after the company posted a stronger-than-expected quarter, powered by cloud growth and resilient North American sales.
Why it matters: The results underscore how Amazon's heavy bets on AI and faster fulfillment are paying off.
Apple on Thursday reported earnings slightly ahead of analysts' expectations despite continued weakness in Greater China, and forecast strong growth this holiday season.
Why it matters: The iPhone maker is huge on its own, but its results are also key to a host of suppliers and partners through the tech industry.
The Trump administration won't allow more than 7,500 refugees to enter America in FY2026, a record-low cap that prioritizes admitting Afrikaners, or white South Africans, into the country.
Why it matters: The plunge cements the president's sharp pivot away from America's historic refugee policies and stands in stark contrast to the 125,000 refugees admitted under the last year of the Biden administration.
CEOs represented by the Business Roundtable, one of the nation's most influential business lobby groups, along with more than a dozen trade groups, urged Congress to reopen the government in a statement Thursday.
Why it matters: Some 200 or so CEOs of major U.S. companies, from Apple to Walmart, belong to the Business Roundtable, which warns that the prolonged government shutdown is causing economic damage, some of which is irreversible.
"The longer the shutdown persists, the larger and more durable the economic damage becomes — and some of it could never be recovered," the group says in its statement.
16 trade associations also joined the statement, representing a range of industries, including the American Bankers Association, American Hotel & Lodging Association, National Association of Home Builders and National Association of Manufacturers.
The big picture: The shutdown is now in its 30th day, and pressure is building on lawmakers to broker a deal.
Around 42 million Americans are at risk of losing their food benefits, or SNAP, beginning Saturday.
More than 65,000 small businesses that contract with the federal government have $3 billion at risk each week the shutdown persists, the Chamber of Commerce said in an analysis released Thursday.
"The Chamber is again calling on Congress to immediately pass the continuing resolution to reopen and fund the government," Neil Bradley, chief policy officer for the lobby group, said in a statement.
Zoom in: The airline industry in particular is eager to get back to business.
Air traffic controllers and other airport workers are going without pay, straining air travel in the U.S.
On Thursday, CEOs from American Airlines and United attended a roundtable to press for an end to the stalemate, Reuters reports.
"Delta Air Lines implores Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution to reopen the government so that our air traffic controllers, TSA and CPB officers charged with the safety and efficiency of our national airspace can collect the paychecks they deserve," the company said in a statement.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.
The people who operate Bitcoin and secure it for posterity are in a debate over how much data can be stored on its blockchain.
Why it matters: It's an ideological battle over what Bitcoin should be used for, with a growing number of operators working to keep it just about money.
Sara Blask, Blue Origin'sformer principal of launch communications, referred to her team as the "Seal Team 6" of crisis communications during on an-stage interview at MB Live.
Why it matters: Space tourism is a highly technical, highly regulated industry that is viewed with skepticism by many — making proactive storytelling and crisis planning priorities for the comms teams.
Communicators tend to gripe about how they deserve to have a seat at the corporate leadership table. It's a tired trope that I'm, quite frankly, sick of writing about.
Yes, but: When Walmart executive vice president of corporate affairs Dan Bartlett told me the "public" has a seat at the table, it made me pause.
Why it matters: Corporate affairs and communications teams show their value by acting as strategic liaisons between a company and its most important audiences, namely the public.
Palantir on Thursday sued two former employees who now work at Percepta, an "AI transformation company" recently launched by venture capital giant General Catalyst.
Why it matters: GC has become one of venture's most ambitious firms, having recently bought an Ohio hospital and participated in a takeover bid for Janus Henderson. There's lots of IPO buzz.
This could stain its story, even if GC never gets added to the defendant roster.
Bending Spoons, an Italian holding company that buys and seeks to revitalize tech brands like AOL, on Thursday announced a $710 million equity raise at an $11 billion pre-money valuation.
Why it matters: The deal includes $270 million in primary capital that will be used to make further acquisitions, Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari tells Axios.
Lucid Motors will soon unveil a vehicle-to-home power product, and the luxury EV startup is also talking with third-party dealerships in Europe — a departure from its direct-to-consumer model.
Why it matters: Those steps, shared by interim CEO Marc Winterhoff in an interview, illustrate how Lucid is adapting on the fraught, expensive road from buzzy startup to commercial-scale automaker.
Perplexity on Thursday is launching Perplexity Patents, an AI patent research agent, per an announcement shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The AI-powered web browser wants to make it easier for people to look up patents so engineers, researchers and consumers can quickly find prior inventions.
Small business owners are at an impasse — 74% report they plan to grow, seeing a future where they can expand their businesses. But they're feeling held back by factors like accessing affordable capital, hiring difficulties and capitalizing on new technologies.
Here's the deal: Giving small business owners a voice in Washington, D.C. helps policymakers understand their needs and shape better policies. But when you're a small business owner juggling every aspect of your business, finding time and opportunities to advocate for those priorities at a national level isn't easy.
Bill Gates' shift from "doomsday" climate warnings to a focus on improving human lives is triggering sharp reactions from scientists and activists.
Why it matters: As one of the world's most prominent funders of both climate and global health efforts, Gates' positioning influences the political and philanthropic center.
The AI spending spree continues. It's only getting bigger, in fact, and the sums more astronomical.
Why it matters: The longer the boom can keep carrying the economy, the more it can offset other structural changes, like a reordering of global trade and a transformation of the labor market.
