Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Strikes shutter Delhi’s markets. A 72-hour protest is planned as merchants demonstrate against business closures ordered by the supreme court.
Donald Trump may approve the release of the Nunes memo. The controversial classified document, drawn up by congressional Republicans, allegedly accuses the FBI of improperly eavesdropping on suspects in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign. Democrats and the FBI oppose the memo’s release.
Macron and Rihanna reunite in Africa. France’s president and the Barbadian pop superstar will meet up in Dakar, Senegal for an education conference.
While you were sleeping
Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet released their numbers. Amazon boasted a new earnings record with an impressive $1.9 billion in profit and $60.5 billion in revenue thanks in part to its web services business. Apple managed to beat revenue goals with $88.3 billion against a $87.28-billion mark despite disappointing iPhone X sales. Alphabet beat revenue estimates at $32.32 billion against an expected $31.86 billion, but actually lost $3 billion, sending stocks on a dramatic 5% dip.
Alphabet pondered a Saudi tech deal. Meanwhile, Google’s parent company mulled building a massive tech hub within Saudi Arabia (paywall). The deal would see Alphabet partner up with oil giant Saudi Aramco, installing several data centers around the kingdom nation that could be used for major cloud computing operations.
Airbnb’s CFO stepped down. Laurence Tosi supposedly clashed with CEO Brian Chesky over the practicalities of going public, which is no longer a possibility this year. Chesky has since promoted Belinda Johnson as the company’s first COO.
Alibaba shrugged off market woes. The e-commerce giant posted a 56% revenue jump for its third-quarter earnings report, raising its outlook for future growth in cloud computing, payments processing, and offline retail. Alibaba also acquired a 33% stake in Ant Financial (estimated at $60 billion), a critical move as the fintech titan prepares for an IPO.
Bitcoin continued its troubling slide. January saw the digital asset lose nearly $50 billion in market value, with cryptocurrency in general suffering crackdowns across Asia along with several high-profile scams. Facebook is also banning cryptocurrency ads from its various platforms, even though CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed interest in the market not too long ago.
Quartz obsession interlude
Tim Fernholz on how the age of private space travel began with the space shuttle Columbia tragedy: “Though Columbia was the final nail in the space shuttle program’s coffin… it didn’t change the shape of the industry. In a sense, the lessons of 1986 and 2003 were the same: NASA simply did not have a cheap, reliable space vehicle.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Ads are the source of the internet’s evil. They transform attention into money, incentivizing companies to capitalize on our most private desires (paywall).
The decline in US startup IPOs could spell trouble for the country’s economy. It narrows investment opportunities for working Americans and intensifies industry consolidation.
Spanish could disappear as a spoken language in the US. The country’s non-English languages are often lost by or during the third generation.
Surprising discoveries
SpaceX’s rocket hit the ocean on its descent—and unexpectedly survived. The Falcon 9 should have exploded on impact, and Elon Musk isn’t sure why it didn’t.
An Israeli group is suing over a canceled Lorde concert. It’s the first lawsuit filed under a 2011 boycott law, which takes aim at anyone who calls for avoiding Israel or the land it occupies.
Hong Kong will shut down ivory sales by the end of 2021. The move will end one of the world’s biggest legal markets, which fuels the slaughter of more than 30,000 African elephants a year.
Hamburg’s former Gestapo headquarters are now apartments. The relatives of the victims who were tortured under interrogation in the building say the tiny tribute to their memory on the ground floor is insulting.
A startup netted $100 million for its Jetsons-style air-taxi service. Joby Aviation, which hides its prototypes (paywall) in a private airfield, says future rides will cost as little as an Uber.
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