đ Dr. Amazon will see you now
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Hereâs what you need to know
Amazon announced a $3.9 billion deal to buy One Medical. If approved, the acquisition of the healthcare company would expand Amazonâs footprint in the industry.
The US leveled charges of cryptocurrency insider trading for the first time. The defendants allegedly made $1.1 million through a Coinbase tips scheme.Â
Snapâs disappointing results dragged down all social media shares. Snapchatâs owner missed revenue expectations, raising concerns about shrinking digital ad spending.Â
Mattel hopes the Barbie movie will boost doll sales. The toy maker saw a 20% rise in sales, but these were driven by Hot Wheels and other brands.Â
The first case of polio in a decade was detected in New York. The individual is no longer contagious but an investigation is underway. Meanwhile, the WHO is reassessing the risk of the monkeypox outbreak.
Mexican workers at billionaire-owned Telmex are going on strike. Itâs the first industrial action at the telecommunication company since 1985.
What to watch for
Twitter reports earnings today, but there wonât be an accompanying call since the social media company has a pending deal with one Elon Musk. Analysts expect Twitterâs earnings will be down this quarter, but the bigger story is how turbulent the companyâs shares have been over the past few months.
The latest boost to Twitterâs stock, not pictured above, has been its first win in its fight with Musk. The two parties are heading to court this October, earlier than Muskâs requested 2023, after the billionaire went cold turkey on his $44 billion bid to buy the social media company. Twitterâs stock was up more than 5% on news of the trialâs expedited date.
What comes next for Twitter will depend on how well it can walk the tightrope of investor confidence. It has to prove to shareholders it can succeed alone, while also showing it will come out on top in court.
About that other company with a âTâ
In the second quarter, Tesla saw its biggest drop in production since the start of the pandemic, down 15% from the previous quarter.
It was expectedâthe companyâs factory in Shanghai wasnât operating in April because of covid lockdowns, and facilities in Austin and Berlin couldnât scale up fast enough to make up for the loss of output in Shanghai.
Tesla is predicting a major turnaround in production in the second half of the year. But the most recent numbers were bad enough that the company sold off 75% of its bitcoin holdings to bolster its cash reserves. On a July 20 earnings call, Musk told investors that the sell off âshould not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin,â but rather, âwe were concerned about overall liquidity for the company.â
How to spot corporate greenwashing
Itâs becoming increasingly hard to spot when a companyâs environmental advertising is genuine or dubious. The tactics corporations use to manipulate consumers into thinking theyâre climate-focused organizations can range from the simplistic (flashing images of polar bears) to the deceitful (baseless claims of carbon offsets).
Quartz reporters Tim McDonnell and Amanda Shendruk put together a taxonomy of red flags to look for in marketing materials, and advice on how to get smarter about consuming green.
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Surprising discoveries
Last yearâs sudden surge in trading of Berkshire Hathaway shares was an illusion. Mystery solvedâit was due to a change in how brokerage app Robinhood reported fractional trades.
The James Webb Space Telescope made another awesome discovery. It found the oldest galaxy ever seen in the universe, dated to 300 million years after the big bang.
A seized Russian oligarchâs superyacht was carrying precious cargo. A suspected FabergĂ© egg was recovered on board the Amadea.
A cannabis facility turned the sky pink in an Australian town. Someone must have forgotten to put down the blinds, treating locals to a spellbinding glow.
The worldâs oldest, giant male panda has died. An An the panda had reached the ripe age of 35 years, equivalent to the age of 105 in human years.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, a FabergĂ© egg, and Barbiecore skies to [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to allâbecome a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Sofia Lotto Persio, Julia Malleck, Morgan Haefner, and Scott Nover.