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The World
Biden’s $4 trillion economic plan: President Biden released the second portion of his economic plan: $1.8 trillion in new spending and tax cuts over 10 years for workers, families and children. That’s on top of the $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan he released at the end of March. Most of the spending and tax cuts are directed at families, with provisions for a national paid family and medical leave program; child care subsidies; and extensions of several tax credit expansions from the most recent Covid-19 relief law. (New York Times)
Five top takeaways from this latest Biden plan: 1. This is a big expansion of U.S. government support for families. 2. It will be hard to pass. 3. Biden wants to pay for the $1.8 trillion by taxing the rich. 4. The plan’s timeline is weird. 5. Implementing this will be mind-boggling. (Washington Post)
The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate near zero and said it plans to continue supporting the economic recovery, while acknowledging recent progress in growth and employment. Fed officials voted unanimously to maintain the central bank’s policies, aimed at holding down borrowing costs, until the economy heals further from the effects of the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal)
More than half of U.S. states have seen a significant decline in new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks, with the U.S. averaging almost 54,000 new cases a day, a 24% decline from two weeks ago. (New York Times)
A Pfizer pill to treat Covid symptoms could be ready by year’s end, CEO Albert Bourla said. Meanwhile, Covid-19 deniers in Germany are placed under surveillance. (WebMD News, New York Times)
India, home to the world's worst ongoing coronavirus outbreak, has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the pandemic began last year. But the real number, experts fear, could be up to 30 times higher -- meaning more than half a billion cases. (CNN)
Google promised its contact tracing app was completely private; it wasn’t. Researchers say hundreds of preinstalled apps can access a log found on Android devices where sensitive contact tracing information is stored. (The Markup)
73% of consumers who’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine said they’re likely to take advantage of rewards from local retailers in particular. 58% of Americans said rewarding people for receiving the vaccine is a good way to encourage people to get vaccinated, but 44% said companies shouldn’t offer rewards exclusively to those who have been vaccinated. (Morning Consult)
Bulgarian prosecutors said they are looking at whether four explosions at weapons depots over the past decade are part of a Russian effort to disrupt the flow of arms from Eastern Europe to battlefields in Ukraine and Georgia. The investigations into the explosions, which took place between 2011 and 2020, are part of wider probes in Europe linked to suspected Russian military intelligence agents. (Washington Post)
Workers trying to block the sale of a Renault car parts factory held seven managers against their will for 12 hours in the latest “bossnapping” to hit French industry. Managers at the Fonderie de Bretagne in Brittany that has been put up sale were held by union activists and prevented from going home until 10:30 pm. (Agence France-Presse)
The White House is again considering setting the number of refugees who can enter the U.S through September at about 62,500, according to three people familiar with the deliberations, under pressure from immigrant rights groups furious about President Biden’s recent retreat from that target. (Washington Post)
Economy
The U.S. securities regulator is considering new guidance to rein in growth projections made by listed blank-check companies, and clarify when they qualify for certain legal protections. The previously unreported measures being weighed by staff at the SEC would escalate its crackdown on the deal frenzy in special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which it worries is putting investors at risk. (Reuters)
Venture firms are basking in a surge of blockbuster profits. (Wall Street Journal)
In a major win for hospitals, CMS is seeking to abandon a plan to require them to disclose certain negotiated rates it reaches with Medicare Advantage organizations in reports submitted to the federal government. The agency is also proposing a hospital payment bump totaling $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2022 as well as implementation of a floor wage index provision from legislation passed earlier this year. (Healthcare Dive)
GM CEO Mary Barra weighs in on everything from the company's competing vision—compared to Tesla—for the future of electric vehicles to her favorite song with a GM product in it (It's Prince's "Little Red Corvette."). Of her famous decision to cut GM's dress code from 10 pages to "dress appropriately," she says, "These are people we’re trusting to do really important work on the behalf of the company, and yet we’re not going to trust they use good judgment to decide what to wear to work?" (The Broadsheet, Time)
Ford CEO expects chip shortage impact to bottom in Q2, production rebound in second half of year. (CNBC)
The new office parks: Source Code compiled a list of the most-hyped new large-scale projects in slightly unusual places: (Source Code)
Atlanta, GA: Microsoft has plans to build a massive new headquarters by developing a long-neglected tract of land in a historically Black neighborhood. And Airbnb will eventually construct a new technical hub for future engineering talent and R&D, second only in size to the company's Bay Area office. Other startups, tech education programs and VC firms are thriving there, too.
Raleigh, NC: Apple will invest around $1 billion in a new campus in the North Carolina "Research Triangle" area.
San Diego: Apple also has big plans to add thousands of jobs to its San Diego office, while a number of startups have also begun relocating there.
Denver and Boulder, CO: Palantir announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Denver last year, and Apple announced plans to invest heavily in hiring there.
Dallas-Fort Worth: Amazon is adding hundreds of jobs to its Fort Worth tech hub, and Facebook is spending more than $1 billion expanding its data center there.
A new study finds that corporate decisions to either protect workers or lay them off during the pandemic had a lot to do with compassion. Researchers found that companies with above-average amounts of cash were 16% less likely to furlough or lay off workers than were companies with weaker cash positions. But financial factors were only part of the story. Companies with strong finances but below-average scores on friendliness to workers were 29 percentage points more likely to reduce their workforces than were companies with similar financial strength but above-average scores on treating workers well. (Stanford University)
Technology
Verizon is exploring a sale of its media assets including Yahoo and AOL, signaling a dramatic reversal of the communications company’s once-lofty ambitions in the sector. The sales process, which includes private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, could yield a price of $4 billion to $5 billion. (Wall Street Journal)
Apple posted double-digit growth in 1Q21 in all of its businesses, led by iPhone sales that surged by two-thirds from a year ago. The world’s most valuable publicly listed company said revenue was up 54% in its fiscal quarter to $89.6bn, far exceeding already elevated forecasts of $77bn. Net profits jumped 110% to $23.6bn. Total iPhone sales increased 66%, bringing in $47.9bn — or 54% of all revenues. (Financial Times)
Facebook said prices for digital advertisements are soaring amid a boom in demand, a day after Google said it was enjoying a similar dramatic benefit from the pandemic, as 1Q21 revenues increased 48% to $26.1bn. (Financial Times)
Amazon announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in wage increases for its operations workers, promising raises of between 50 cents and $3 an hour to more than 500,000 employees. (GeekWire)
Spotify says podcast listening hit an all-time high in Q1, crediting The Joe Rogan Experience; Spotify had 2.6M podcasts at end of Q1, up from 2.2M in Q4 2020. (Variety)
HBO Max will charge $9.99 per month for its advertising-supported streaming service, which will launch in June. HBO Max’s ad-free version costs $14.99 and debuted in May 2020. (CNBC)
A new effort beta on Pittsburgh as a hub for Black venture capital. Kelauni Jasmyn is aiming to create a “digital Wakanda” for Black tech entrepreneurs — far from Silicon Valley. (Bloomberg)
Augmented reality in retail and its impact on sales: Researchers from City University of Hong Kong and Singapore Management University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that identifies four broad uses of AR in retail settings and examines the impact of AR on retail sales: To entertain customers; to educate customers; to facilitate product evaluation; and to enhance the post-purchase consumption experience. (American Marketing Association)
New AI tool calculates materials’ stress and strain based on photos. The advance could accelerate engineers’ design process by eliminating the need to solve complex equations. (MIT News)
Smart Links
CES plans return to Las Vegas in 2022. (Wall Street Journal)
AT&T is giving its top prepaid hotspot plan a big price cut and more data. (The Verge)
No longer a holdout for free, USA Today launches a paywall and digital-only subscription plan. (Poynter)
Gannett under fire for paying some women nearly $30,000 less than male peers. (CNN)
Toyota is building a city for self-driving cars. (City Lab)
Robinhood seeks trademark on 'HOOD.' (Protocol)
How America's marginal tax rate evolved. (Statista)
Live Event
Today, 11:15 am ET: Secretary Katie Theoharides of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will discuss climate initiatives and innovative measures that Massachusetts is taking to reduce emissions. (MIT: Register)