🌏 Delta tumbles

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here Quartz July 11, 2024 Photo: Getty Images (Kent Nishimura) Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know Delta Air Lines’ stock tumbled. Its profits are way down thanks to cheaper airfares. The EU is making Apple share its “tap to pay” tech. A European Commission investigation accused Apple of abusing its mobile wallet market dominance. Pfizer is joining the weight loss drug market. The pharma giant is advancing the development of a once-daily pill. Tesla’s stock is falling back to Earth. Delays to its robotaxi launch brought down Tesla’s stock price after a big rally. Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musk has big plans that stretch far beyond Earth. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is shelling out $1.7 billion to automakers. The funding will help convert shuttered assembly plants into electric vehicle factories. Donald Trump keeps coming for the Bitcoin bros Former U.S. President and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is reversing his stance on crypto and trying to earn the support of those with a passion for blockchain-based economies. Never mind that, in the not-so-distant past, Trump called Bitcoin “a scam against the dollar.” Now he wants to be the Crypto President — and to take donations in Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Solana, and other cryptocurrencies, thank you very much (President Joe Biden also said he’d consider taking crypto campaign donations). Trump said this week he’ll speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in late July. That’s a smart move, a former advisor to Biden told Quartz, especially at a time when support for Biden is faltering (Vinamrata Chaturvedi has more on that opinion here). But Trump’s newfound love of crypto may not bode well with some residents in a key red state: Texas. Quartz’s Chaturvedi also reports that Texans are suffering from health impacts as more and more Bitcoin mining facilities set up shop in the Lone Star state. One big number: $14.6 billion The value of two mega venture capital deals for AI startups in the second quarter of 2024. AI hype has venture capitalists extra giddy, and funding for AI companies has accounted for 45% of private capital funding so far this year. That’s before AI has even hit its “exponential growth phase,” according to one Amazon Web Services executive. Sponsored content by Bay Area Times Visual-based newsletter on business and tech We explain the latest business, finance, and tech news with visuals and data.📊 All in one free newsletter that takes < 5 minutes to read.🗞 Save time and become more informed today.👇 More from Quartz 🎵 Spotify wants to be like social media 📵 Sophisticated cybercriminals are targeting Apple iPhone users 🥤 Quaker and soda recalls hurt PepsiCo’s wallet last quarter 🛒 Costco is raising its membership fees for the first time in 7 years 🔬A contaminated cooking oil scandal in China has set off a major government probe ⛓️ Archegos’ Bill Hwang could spend life in prison. Here are 5 of the biggest U.S. fraud cases — and how long they served Surprising discoveries Some leotards for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team have 10,000 hand-placed crystals. Simone Biles has a lot more bling in this Olympics than she did eight years ago, when she had a measly 5,000 crystals on her leotard. Whataburger’s app turned into the go-to power outage map in Houston, Texas during Hurricane Beryl. The Whataburger effect is kind of like the “Waffle House Index.” Italian police are searching for a teenager who scaled the top of Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore to take a selfie. The Italian press said the same 17-year-old also climbed the Milan Cathedral in May. Local Hawaiian leaders are using the aftermath of the Maui fires to revive its pre-colonial ecosystem. That includes a fishpond on the island of Moku‘ula, the domain of the former Hawaiian Kingdom’s freshwater deity. People with strong inner voices have better verbal memories. If you don’t have an inner dialogue, it’s a disadvantage for certain cognitive skills, researchers say. 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. or give membership as a gift! Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, leotard crystals, and Whataburgers to [email protected]. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Laura Bratton and Morgan Haefner. 🌐 View or share this email online. 📬  Check out our emails caret 👀  Read Quartz’s latest stories caret Quartz  |   |  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 © 2024 G/O Media Inc.