🌏 Bitcoin at the ballot box

Good morning, Quartz readers!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Spirit Airlines (SAVE) on the minds of both its exes. Past and potential mergers with the carrier came up during earnings calls at JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines.

Pfizer (PFE-0.72%) wants to crash the GLP-1 party. The drug company is teasing a pill that might displace injectables like Ozempic.

Starbucks (SBUX+0.74%) is going to start selling fewer drinks. Menu items like the olive-oily Oleato are getting cut as part of a return to a “standard course of business.”

OpenAI is getting into the chip business. It’s working on a product with TSMC and Broadcom in a bid to weaken its reliance on Nvidia (NVDA+3.10%).

Bitcoin prices hit a new record. The digital currency traded for as much as $73,000-per-unit on Tuesday.

Silicon Valley is hedging a Harris loss

A phone call from the head of Google (GOOGL+1.60%); a “general, hello-type thing,” from the CEO of Amazon (AMZN+2.39%); a shoutout from the founder of Facebook (META+0.24%). The tech industry thinks that Donald Trump might become president, and they’re trying to fluff up their relationships with him just in case.

Elon Musk, whose outreach is the most visible and controversial, has even gotten himself installed in a potential Trump cabinet. But he’s far from the only one putting out feelers.

Which tech leaders are cozying up to Donald Trump before Election Day? Quartz’s William Gavin points them out.

Crypto’s post-election destiny is a coin-toss

If Donald Trump wins the election, some investors think Bitcoin prices will shoot up. If Kamala Harris wins, some investors think Bitcoin prices will go down.

Their differing temperaments and telegraphed approaches to regulating cryptocurrency are weighing the way that people in the digital asset space picture the future of its most prominent vehicle. In the case of a contested election, though, volatility-riding traders might make out best of all.

How will the election affect Bitcoin? Quartz’s Vinamrata Chaturvedi spoke to Chandra Duggirala, co-founder and CEO of the interoperability-focused crypto platform Portal To Bitcoin, to find out.

MORE FROM QUARTZ

🏡 Donald Trump is selling real estate again (his old house in Connecticut)

🤖 Elon Musk thinks there’s still a very good chance AI “goes bad”

👛 Someone bought a dime for $500,000 

✈️ Boeing got more Wall Street cash than it was begging for

🍔 McDonald’s thinks cheap food will bring back customers scared off by E.Coli

🚘 Ford’s earnings are driving at lower expectations

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

Adidas (ADDYY-0.56%) still has tons of Yeezy inventory. The sneaker giant is trying to wind down its remaining €50 million ($54 million) of its long-dead collaboration with Ye by the end of the year — at cost.

The NBA’s Boston Celtics are shooting most of their shots from beyond the arc. Their offensive strategy is pushing the rest of the league to a historical reliance on the three-ball. (paywall)

Frédéric Chopin is dropping new music. An unsigned 200-year-old waltz by the conductor was pulled out of a vault at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.

Amazon is already selling out of some Black Friday products. Its streaming service has unloaded all the ad inventory for an NFL game it will air that day.

People are flocking to the mall again — to eat. Restaurants are pulling people back to the thought-dead shopping centers.

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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, mall food recommendations, and airline love triangles to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Audrey McNamara.