A state appeals court in California has preempted Uber and Lyft’s threatened state-wide shutdown over a new state law ordering them to reclassify their drivers as employees by “allowing them to continue operating [under their current model] while the court weighs their appeal” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Marketplace
Initial U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly rose back over 1.1 million, “a sign of the job market’s fragility five months after the coronavirus pandemic began to devastate the economy.” America’s unemployment rate is hovering around the 10.2% mark – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Marketplace
New IRS projections suggest that millions of the jobs lost in these past months will likely disappear for years, with lower rates of W-2 filings forecast through at least 2027 – Bloomberg
On the heels of Apple’s App Store dustup with Epic Games and news of a deal with Amazon in which Apple will take a smaller cut in order to attract Amazon’s Prime Video app, a group of news publishers is pushing Apple for “similar deal terms” – Bloomberg
ECB officials indicated this week that they’re open to additional monetary stimulus this fall to “shore up economic growth” across the continent as Covid infection rates surge again – WSJ
Jack Ma’s Ant Group is just weeks away from filing dual public listings in Hong Kong and Shanghai with hopes of raising $30 billion, a figure that would value Ma’s “prized asset”—a fintech platform that’s become “an online mall for everything from loans to travel services to food delivery”—at more than $225 billion – Bloomberg
Federal authorities have charged Uber’s former security chief, Joe Sullivan, of “attempting to conceal from federal investigators a hack that exposed the email addresses and phone numbers of 57 million drivers and passengers” in 2016. The charges are believed to be the first against an exec for his or her company’s response to a security incident – NYTimes
Bayer AG, its checkbook firmly open these days after a series of disastrous Roundup verdicts, has reached a $1.6 billion deal to settle upwards of 90% of the “nearly 39,000 injury claims brought over its Essure birth control device” – Law360 and WSJ
The Journal gives us the inside scoop on Kodak’s “$765 million moment”—how Peter Navarro helped make it happen and why he’s distancing himself from the tenuous deal these days – WSJ
Covid has forced American Airlines to cut service to 15 smaller cities—from Dubuque, Iowa to New Haven, Connecticut—as federal airline industry aid expires at the end of September – WSJ
GE CEO Larry Culp’s got himself another couple of years to work on his turnaround of the American corporate behemoth—a recognition of the wrench that the coronavirus has thrown into Culp’s plans but also a sign of apparent Board satisfaction with his work despite tumbling share prices this year – Bloomberg
Looking for a snapshot of the polarized world of 2020? Try this glimpse at life on the “orthodontic fringe.” Because yes, that place exists – NYTimes
Stay safe, and have a great weekend.
