Live Nation is fighting to prove that its merger with Ticketmaster didn't make it a concert monopoly.
 

Live Nation will have to publicly defend that its merger with Ticketmaster hasn’t given it unfair control over the live events market after months of failed settlement efforts with government lawyers. The Justice Department and dozens of states are pressing that the concert promotion giant used its scale to lock venues into exclusive ticketing and steer tours away from venues that choose rivals.

The government originally approved the 2010 Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger under the condition that it wouldn’t threaten venues that chose rival ticketing platforms. The feds say Live Nation broke that deal.

eBay's cutting stuff and buying Depop.

eBay is laying off about 800 employees, roughly 6% of its full-time workforce, while simultaneously making its biggest bet in years on the future of online shopping. The cuts, the third round in three years, are framed to shift resources toward new priorities, chief among them the $1.2 billion acquisition of Depop, a secondhand fashion marketplace.

Depop generated about $1 billion in merchandise sales in 2025, with US growth approaching 60% year over year. For eBay, which already does more than $10 billion annually in fashion sales, the acquisition deepens its presence in one of retail's fastest-growing categories.

Block is cutting nearly half its workforce in the name of AI-driven efficiency.

Block, the payments company behind Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is cutting nearly half its workforce in one of the most dramatic restructurings a major company has announced to date. CEO Jack Dorsey told shareholders the company would shrink from over 10,000 employees to just under 6,000, framing the decision not as a sign of trouble but as a proactive response to what AI now makes possible. He cited a sudden leap in AI model capability in December as the moment he decided to act.

The cuts came alongside a year where gross profit grew 17%, reinforcing Dorsey's argument that the business is healthy. He predicted most companies will arrive at the same conclusion within a year.  Block's workforce nearly tripled between 2019 and 2023, and some analysts have questioned whether AI is genuinely driving the cuts or simply providing convenient cover for a long-overdue correction. Block's stock surged more than 20% after the announcement, suggesting investors are rewarding the leaner vision regardless.

Netflix gave up on buying Warner Bros.

Netflix walked away from its months-long attempt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets after Warner’s board declared a rival offer from Paramount to be superior. Rather than raise its $27.75 per share offer to match Paramount’s $31 per share bid for the entire company, Netflix declined to match it. Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said it plainly: the deal was “always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

Paramount paid the $2.8 billion breakup fee Netflix was owed, effectively handing Netflix a win for simply walking away. The more than $110 billion deal still requires regulatory approval.

Target's new CEO unveiled an ambitious turnaround plan this week.

Target's new CEO used the company's fourth quarter earnings report this week to lay out an ambitious turnaround plan, pledging to spend more than $2 billion this year on opening 30 new stores, remodels, and improving the overall shopping experience with trendy apparel cycles and Beauty Studio concepts.

The Minneapolis-based retailer has struggled through roughly four years of flat or declining sales, weighed down by slow sales in non-essential categories, like apparel and home furnishings, which make up nearly a third of annual sales. The company also cut 1,800 corporate roles last October to control costs and said it would redirect savings into in-store jobs to address long checkout lines and messy shelves.