California has sued ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft over alleged violations of a new state law that requires companies to treat gig workers as employees “if they control how workers perform tasks or if the work is a routine part of the company’s business” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360

Airbnb will cut 1900 positions—some 25% of its workforce—as it struggles to adjust to a revenue forecast of less than half of the year before and global travel at a standstill – WSJ and Bloomberg

Costco and supermarket meat-buying restrictions and Wendy’s restaurants without burgers: all part of life in a COVID-disrupted American economy, where shuttered meatpacking plants are throwing the food supply chain into chaos – NYTimes and MarketWatch and HuffPost

The “do I really have to go back to the office . . . ever?” murmurs are already starting—though definitely not for everyone – NYTimes

Private Equity’s pleas for government aid during this time of COVID-19 are being met with a resounding “nope” – NYTimes

Even while the European Central Bank is again rolling out a new bond-buying program in an effort to prop up the continent’s fragile economy, Germany’s highest court is questioning the legality of the central bank’s legal ability to do so in the first place – WSJ and Bloomberg

Loan servicer Navient has agreed to change its “practices for identifying and guiding public service workers seeking to use a long-troubled loan-forgiveness program” as part of a settlement with educators backed by the American Federation of Teachers who had accused Navient of “negligently blocking their access to the program by failing to accurately explain its rules and requirements” – NYTimes

No time like a massive economic downturn and wild volatility to roll out a brand new stock exchange, but such is life, so let’s welcome MEMX—the Members Exchange—which got the SEC stamp of approval this week to operate a national securities exchange. MEMX’s member owners bill it as a “low-cost alternative to the 13 public stock exchanges currently operating in the U.S., 12 of which are owned by three corporations:” the NYSE, Nasdaq, and Cboe – Law360

A small silver lining has emerged from the markets’ volatility in recent weeks—it appears that efforts by regulators and Wall Street to “fix the complex electronic systems that underpin the U.S. stock market” after 2010’s infamous flash crash “appear to have paid off” – WSJ

Venmo users are launching a proposed class action against fintech startup Plaid, Inc., “whose software connects users’ bank accounts to apps like Venmo and Stripe” for allegedly “accessing and selling the app customers’ personal banking data without their consent” – Law360

Attention Jason Pfeiffer and other lovers of psychological illusions (that’s magic, to the uninitiated). Karan Singh’s online, and he’s ready to blow your mind via Skype – NYTimes