Good morning, Quartz readers!
The Daily Brief is off next Monday and Tuesday. We’ll see you back on Wednesday, May 29!
Here’s what you need to know
Live Nation and Ticketmaster got hit with a U.S. antitrust lawsuit. The Department of Justice has been probing monopoly allegations against the ticket sellers since a Taylor Swift ticket uproar in late 2022.
Tesla released new data on its Autopilot technology. The electric vehicle maker claimed that Autopilot-enabled cars were 11 times safer than other cars not equipped with the software — but the data comparison to get to that figure isn’t apples to apples.
Oreo maker Mondelēz is paying the European Union a hefty fine over the chocolate trade. The company will have to pay $366 million for limiting cross-border sales of its chocolate, biscuit, and coffee products.
Big Tech just committed to removing as much carbon as the state of California. But it’s just a fraction of the carbon removal that would be required for the world to reach net-zero emissions.
The number of 401(k) millionaires has hit a record. New data from Fidelity found that record-high contributions and a healthy stock market are driving up gains.
Google’s largest-ever deal is all about the cloud
Google parent Alphabet is reportedly making headway in its bid to acquire the $30 billion marketing software company HubSpot. That deal, which would be Google’s largest-ever acquisition, is part of the company’s strategy to compete with Microsoft in the cloud applications market.
Google could use the boost. While it’s currently the world’s third-largest cloud services provider, it holds less than half of the market share of Microsoft. Don’t even mind Amazon — it controls a third of the whole market.
Google’s dreams may be up in the clouds, but it’s on a much more even playing field with Microsoft in the AI space.
Quotable: New Boeing planes aren’t in the clouds
“We can’t rush. We can’t push the factory too hard or the system too hard because the payoff, if we do this right, is going to be big beyond 2025, and that’s what we’re aiming at.” — Boeing CFO Brian West speaking at the Wolfe Research Global Transportation & Industrials Conference on Thursday in New York City
The company’s 737 Max cash burn just keeps burning, and Boeing expects to send more money than planes out the door in 2024.
More from Quartz
😳 AI software engineers make $100,000 more than their colleagues
🍺 More people are using marijuana daily than drinking for the first time in the U.S., study says
🚂 Norfolk Southern has agreed to a $310 million settlement over the East Palestine derailment
📈 Ether ETFs approval could drive up the price of Ether by 60%, according to a crypto firm
📉 The Dow drops 600 points even as Nvidia powers the Nasdaq to a record high
🛢️ U.S. Democrats are investigating Trump’s campaign promises to the oil industry
Surprising discoveries
Astronomers have measured the spin of a black hole. It was whirling at less than a quarter of the speed of light.
They also found a planet that spins around its sun so fast that one year is less than half a day on Earth. It’s among the most bizarre exoplanets that NASA has located.
Crows count out loud. A new study finds they can squawk out a deliberate number of caws in response to visual and audio cues.
The 2024 hurricane season will be a doozy. Up to 25 storms could be named, with four to seven of them projected to be major storms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The fossil of a killer worm was found in England. Radnorscolex was a carnivore and had rows of sharp teeth.
Did you know we have two premium weekend emails, too? One gives you analysis on the week’s news, and one provides the best reads from Quartz and elsewhere to get your week started right. Become a member or give membership as a gift!
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, fast spins, and crow wins to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.