The notoriously close-to-the-vest Amazon revealed for the first time yesterday in a letter to shareholders that its popular Prime program boasts more than 100 million paid members globally – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Speaking of Mr. Bezos, he and Best Buy’s Hubert Joly are teaming up—a rarity for companies often considered rivals—to sell smart TVs powered by Amazon’s Fire TV operating system – WSJ

A check in with Marissa Mayer who, despite all of the drama during her tenure at Yahoo and her unceremonious departure from there, is still around and working on her next act – NYTimes and Bloomberg

We’ve been waiting for these to drop, and now we officially have details on the SEC’s “long-awaited new rules” for brokers giving advice to retail investors that have “already met with skepticism at the agency” itself – Law360

German authorities have raided VW’s Porsche unit HQ as part of an ongoing investigation into emissions cheating—a sign that the probe is expanding into the previously untouched luxury sports cars and SUV realm – NYTimes

What’s potentially worse than a spiking Wall Street volatility index?  Why, a manipulated Wall Street volatility index, of course – Bloomberg

A 21st Century Fox regulatory filing this week disclosed that the company rejected a 16% higher-per-share offer from Comcast for its entertainment assets in favor of Disney’s offer due to antitrust concerns – WSJ and NYTimes

We reported on John Williams’ inverted yield curve thoughts yesterday.  Today, we’re looking at the investors who think it’s cause for major concern – Bloomberg

Qualcomm successfully fended off a hostile bid by Broadcom, but the burgeoning trade war with China (especially recent US actions against ZTE—a major Qualcomm customer—and the delay of Chinese antitrust approval for Q’s acquisition of NXP Semiconductors) could take down US chip maker as “collateral damage” – NYTimes

Retail giant Bon-Ton—unable to find a buyer—will begin closing down its more-than 250 stores around the country and officially go out of business, a move leaving 24,000 employees out of work – WSJ

Blockchain + shipping industry = match made in heaven? Here’s the case for that equation – Bloomberg

Bribes are the norm, betrayal common, and guile prized.  Welcome to the Palio di Siena, a “thunderous, lawless, bareback, medieval-style horse race held twice each summer” in Siena, Italy – NYTimes