Business | The Verge

Spirit Airlines shuts down after Trump’s war on Iran doubled jet fuel prices

2026-05-02T13:54:48-04:00

Spirit Airlines planes are parked on the tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on May 02, 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. | Getty Images

The ultra-low-cost air carrier Spirit Airlines shut down operations after 34 years in business and canceled all flights at 3AM ET on Saturday morning. Its website now redirects to spiritrestructuring.com, instructing fliers not to go to airports, with air traffic control records capturing controllers and pilots signing off to each other as its last flights came in for landings after the shutdown was announced.

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A statement on its website said that for people who purchased tickets directly, "Refunds for tickets purchased by credit card and debit card have been issued, and will be processed by …

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Rivian’s revenue is up as R2 production kicks into gear

2026-04-30T17:38:05-04:00

Rivian reported its first quarter earnings of 2026, providing us a closer look at the company's financial health as it kicks off production for the crucial R2 electric vehicle.

We've already got Rivian's production and delivery statement from the first three months of the year. The company sold 10,365 vehicles in Q1, representing 20 percent increase year over year. And it produced 10,236 vehicles at its factory in Normal, Illinois, which represents a 30 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The company also reaffirmed its prediction that it will sell 62,000-67,000 vehicles this year.

In terms of earnings, Rivian said it …

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Meta lost 20 million users last quarter

2026-04-30T07:49:17-04:00

Meta is planning to pump billions more into AI investments this year, despite noting that millions of users have seemingly started to abandon its platforms. In an earning call on Wednesday, Meta reported that figures for "Family daily active people" - the term Meta has coined for all collective users of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger - declined by 20 million this quarter compared to the previous three months.

Meta attributes this fall to "internet disruptions in Iran, as well as a restriction on access to WhatsApp in Russia." It's up to you whether you take Meta on its word, given that by bundling the user stats together across …

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Google Search queries hit an ‘all time high’ last quarter

2026-04-30T10:05:12-04:00

Google Search queries hit an "all time high" in the first quarter of 2026, according to a statement from CEO Sundar Pichai published as part of Alphabet's earnings on Wednesday.

"Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business," Pichai says. "Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all time high, and 19% revenue growth." He also notes that Q1 was "our strongest quarter ever for our consumer AI plans, driven by the Gemini App" and that the company now has more than 350 million paid subscriptions, with "YouTube and Google One being the key drivers."

Alphabet also anno …

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Larry’s risky business

2026-04-30T08:09:40-04:00

Oracular spectacular? | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

If you want to know whether the AI bubble is bursting, there's only one publicly traded company that will tell you: Oracle.

That's right, the database company. Oracle has burned its boats and pivoted to AI, but not in any kind of usual way. It is not a foundation model builder like OpenAI or Anthropic, obviously. It's not quite a neocloud, though it has entered the same bare-metal business as CoreWeave. It is a software-as-a-service company that has made an audacious bet on a very specific future version of AI as Oracle's traditional business has gracefully declined. It is significantly older than any of its AI competitors, save Microsoft, …

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Spirit is broken

2026-05-02T13:53:25-04:00

The bright yellow livery of Spirit Airlines may soon disappear from the skies. The country's seventh-largest airline has been in financial trouble for years: It hasn't turned a profit since 2019 and filed for bankruptcy twice in the last two years. Despite all that, its leaders predicted that the airline could exit bankruptcy and return to profitability as early as 2027. It just needed time and a little stability to do so.

That time may have run out. On Monday, April 20th, Spirit approached the government to ask for a federal bailout. The sudden rise in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran will add an estimated $360 million in unexpected c …

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You’re about to feel the AI money squeeze

2026-04-27T10:56:45-04:00

Earlier this month, millions of OpenClaw users woke up to a sweeping mandate: The viral AI agent tool, which this year took the worldwide tech industry by storm, had been severely restricted by Anthropic.

Anthropic, like other leading AI labs, was under immense pressure to lessen the strain on its systems and start turning a profit. So if the users wanted its Claude AI to power their popular agents, they'd have to start paying handsomely for the privilege.

"Our subscriptions weren't built for the usage patterns of these third-party tools," wrote Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, on X. "We want to be intentional in managing our growth to …

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SpaceX cuts a deal to maybe buy Cursor for $60 billion

2026-04-22T05:40:37-04:00

With an IPO looming for Elon Musk's SpaceX / xAI / X combo platter of companies, SpaceX has announced an odd arrangement to either acquire the automated programming platform Cursor for $60 billion or pay a fee of $10 billion. Buying this startup that's focused on AI coding could help xAI's tools compete with market leader Anthropic, as well as the other competitors. A report by The Information this week said Sergey Brin has directed Google's "strike team" to help its agentic AI tools catch up, while Sam Altman reportedly declared a "code red" at OpenAI last year before shutting down Sora to focus on the ChatGPT superapp and its own Codex too …

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The SpaceX IPO is a trillion-dollar gamble on the future of space

2026-04-21T08:38:20-04:00

Booster 19, or ''B19'', is seen atop pad 2 at SpaceX's South Texas facility in Cameron County, Texas, ahead of an igniter test on April 13, 2026. (Photo by Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The great SpaceX IPO is looming, allowing outside investors - including regular Joe Schmoes, or retail investors - to buy a stake in one of the buzziest and most controversial companies on the planet for the first time. Depending on who you ask, it's either the best investment opportunity you'll see this decade or a fool's errand to rip off credulous Musk fanboys. With valuations of the company going to sky-high levels, over $1 trillion according to some estimates, there's certainly a furor around the potential for rich returns.

But is there really any money to be made in space?

Let's be clear: There are plenty of companies making money …

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John Ternus is taking over from Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO

2026-04-30T17:18:21-04:00

John Ternus and Tim Cook | Image: Apple

The multitrillion-dollar home of the iPhone, Mac, and so many other tech gadgets is getting a new leader this fall, as Apple has announced that Tim Cook will be replaced as CEO on September 1st by current hardware boss John Ternus. How will we look back on Cook’s legacy, and what will Apple look like under the leadership of Ternus and new chief hardware officer Johny Srouji?

We’ll keep track of all of the latest updates right here, starting with a live recording of The Vergecast.