Facebook Fights Australia | Trump Plaza Demolition | Britney's (Mis)Fortune

Plus: Billionaire Clover Health CEO Vivek Garipalli’s Expletive-Ridden Tirade

Good morning.

Facebook’s gloves have come off in a standoff with Australian lawmakers. We also report from the scene of the demolition of the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and look into how Britney Spears’ court-mandated conservatorship has affected her net worth.

In The News Today

Average life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by a full year in the first six months of 2020—the largest drop since World War II.

The 34-year-old securities broker behind the widely followed "Roaring Kitty" persona on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum has been targeted in a proposed class-action lawsuit.

Top Take-Aways

Facebook pages of several Australian government agencies, non-profits, and businesses were blocked after the social media platform took drastic action in Australia in response to a proposed bill that would force companies to pay news publishers. Facebook has little to lose from the standoff.

Robots that can help retailers keep up with Amazon are a hot commodity, and investors are taking notice. Industrial robotics maker Locus Robotics has raised $150 million led by Tiger Global and Bond at a $1 billion valuation as e-commerce surged.

Investors are valuing online payments processor Stripe at $115 billion in “secondary market” transactions, up more than threefold from the $36 billion Stripe fetched when it raised money in April 2020.

It took 3,800 sticks of dynamite and 19.5 seconds to take down the 34-story building formerly known as Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, ending former President Donald Trump’s complicated four-decade legacy in the New Jersey city.

When Chicago-based Ariel Investments was founded in 1983, it was a breakthrough on Wall Street as the first Black-owned mutual fund firm in the country. Now, the investment firm is making a new push to increase inclusiveness in the world of business and finance.

Few celebrities matched Britney Spears’ cultural impact at the turn of the millennium. But while some of her contemporary pop stars went on to build nine-figure fortunes, Spears has spent more than a decade under a conservatorship that has impacted her career and her net worth. 

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who died Wednesday at age 70, was among the most influential political figures in the U.S. for about three decades, courting controversy and becoming one of the world’s highest-paid entertainers in the process.

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The match between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams at the Australian Open wasn’t just a clash of tennis titans—they are the two highest-paid female athletes on the planet by a landslide, both earning at least five times as much as any other female athlete when it comes to endorsements. Here is a look at the two tennis aces by the numbers.

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