Axios Re:Cap

Airbnb and DoorDash went public within 24 hours of each other, yesterday released their first ever quarterly earnings reports on the same day, and are both expecting big changes to business when the pandemic recedes. In this episode, Dan and Brian Chesky dig into the company’s earnings report and what’s next for Airbnb, travel and hospitality.

Berkshire Grey, a maker of robots for e-commerce warehouses, yesterday agreed to go public via a SPAC led by John Delaney and affiliated with the VC firm of AOL founder Steve Case. Dan speaks with Delaney about what the deal tells us about the future of e-commerce, low-skilled labor and SPACs.

Big corporations and top CEOs are putting pressure on Congress and the White House to pass economic stimulus measures as the political debate drags on. Axios Re:Cap goes deeper with Heather Higginbottom, a former Obama administration official and president of the JPMorgan Chase PolicyCenter, about why her organization just published its first-ever set of policy recommendations.

Many companies last month stopped making political donations, particularly to members of Congress who voted against certifying the presidential election results, with the movement owing much to a CEO meeting held just hours before the Capitol insurrection. Dan talks with Yale School of Management's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who convened that gathering and says CEOs are standing firm.‪

Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician's assistant and childhood cancer survivor, today was named the second crew member for Inspiration4, which is set to be the first-ever all-civilian space flight. Dan digs into the story behind the flight, Arceneaux's selection and what Inspiration4 means for the future of space tourism with Axios Space editor Miriam Kramer.

Like many counties, Florida’s Brevard County originally planned to use one system for COVID-19 vaccine appointments, but it didn’t work. Eventbrite is now being used to help schedule vaccinations in 40 states and numerous counties, including Brevard. Dan goes deeper with Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz to learn how her company has responded to this unexpected use of Eventbrite’s platform.

Wednesday night, staring down looming Australian legislation that would force Facebook and Google to pay publishers in the country for content that appears on their platforms, Facebook pulled the plug on news. Producer Naomi Shavin digs in with Axios media reporter Sara Fischer on why Facebook pulled news articles off its site, what it means for Australian users and publishers, and what it means for other countries that want to pursue similar legislation.

Nearly 3 million Texans are without power and more than 20 are dead, due to a perfect storm of extreme weather, a failure to winterize energy infrastructure and an antipathy toward regulation. Dan digs into what this experience should teach Texas and other states about the future, with Andrew Freedman, deputy weather editor at the Washington Post.

The U.S. government last year discovered that it was the victim of the largest-ever cybersecurity breach in its history, in which Russian hackers allegedly used a software exploit to access a deep trove of sensitive information. It was the latest escalation in a digital battle that is only expected to escalate, via a global black market where governments can buy everything from ways to hack laptop cameras to power grids.

Dan goes deeper with Nicole Perlroth, a New York Times cybersecurity reporter who just published a book titled "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends."

Around 35 million Americans have been vaccinated and roughly 1.6 million more are getting shots a day, but it’s been a bumpy road to get to this point, as state and local distribution plans have been beset by bureaucratic and technological blunders. Dan examines one of the biggest tech failings — a $44 million vaccination appointment system built by Deloitte that most states are backing away from — with investigative health care journalist Cat Ferguson.