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Amazon is looking to expand its competitor to Temu and Shein beyond the U.S. The company intends to launch its discount storefront, called Haul, in Europe later this year, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans are confidential. Recent job postings indicate Amazon is eyeing a wider global rollout. One listing stated the company is looking to hire a software development engineer in the Haul team to help with a worldwide launch. The job was posted to Amazon's website but has since been removed. Another role is for a senior product manager to assist with a launch in Mexico. Both openings were posted earlier this month.

Your information should stay *your* information. This tax season, it's important to pay close attention to any and all communications you get from the IRS vs. the "IRS". We asked our editor Dan Avery to explain how to avoid tax scams in just 30 seconds. Learn more: cnb.cx/3QB8w8x

In 2020, Purple left her corporate job to retire early at just 30 years old. The blogger, who?goes by Purple online?and in the media to maintain her privacy, has been traveling the world and chronicling her FIRE journey, which stands for financial independence and early retirement, online for the last decade-plus. But one trait sets her apart from many of the well-known members of the FIRE community: she's a Black woman.

Stripe has once again shown why sometimes it's better to be private. During a February sell-off for fintech stocks, Block plunged almost 30%, its steepest decline since 2022, alongside drops of 20% or more for PayPal and Coinbase and a 9% slide in shares of SoFi. Meanwhile, Stripe on Thursday announced a tender offer for employee shares at a $91.5 billion valuation, making the payments company significantly more valuable than any of its public market peers. "In general, they benefit from being private because there's a handful of stocks that people want to buy and they trade at a premium to public valuations," said Larry Albukerk, founder of EB Exchange, which helps facilitate trades in shares of pre-IPO companies.

A White House official said that after Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and President Trump left the Oval Office the Ukraine leader went into a so-called hold room in the West Wing of the White House, which is normal protocol. Trump then issued a post on social media saying Zelenskyy would be welcome back when he wants peace. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio then went to the hold room to tell Zelenskyy his White House visit was over, the official said. Read more: cnb.cx/3QCyQz9

Amazon, the leading investor in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, is relying on that company's AI models to power the most advanced capabilities in new Alexa devices, according to two people familiar with the matter. Anthropic's Claude large language model is handling the vast majority of questions that customers have been asking the new Alexa, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the details are confidential. Earlier this week, Amazon unveiled its long-awaited overhaul of its decade-old devices. For the first time, Amazon will charge users to access a version of Alexa. The "Alexa+" service will be $19.99 a month, or free for Amazon Prime members, and will roll out in early access next month.

When the Los Angeles wildfires swept through Southern California in January, Barbara Shay lost much more than the building housing the cafe she owned. Gone were the ingredients for menu items like grits or pancakes. Gone were the photos of icons ranging from former President Barack Obama to actor Richard Pryor that had lined the walls. Gone, too, were the decades of labor from Shay's family. "I am still in shock," Shay said in an interview with CNBC. "It's an emotional roller coaster — not just for me, but just for everyone." Several businesses featured in this story have GoFundMe pages set up for donations. Here's links:

Early economic data for the first quarter of 2025 is pointing towards negative growth, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta measure. The central bank's GDPNow tracker of incoming metrics is indicating that gross domestic product is on pace to shrink by 1.5% for the January-through-March period, according to an update posted Friday morning. Fresh indicators showed that consumers spent less than expected during the inclement January weather and exports were weak, which led to the downgrade. Prior to Friday's consumer spending report, GDPNow had been indicating growth of 2.3% for the quarter.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has attained authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly its massive Starship rocket once again, the space regulator announced on Friday. The Starship rocket broke up during the company's seventh test flight in January. The explosion caused debris to rain down over Turks and Caicos, and forced several commercial flights to be diverted or delayed, CNBC previously reported. The FAA granted the modified license to SpaceX, which has a $350 billion private market valuation, even though the company has yet to complete its mishap investigation, required after the January explosion. The space regulator has previously authorized flights by companies including SpaceX and Rocket Lab while mishap investigations were still underway, a spokesperson told CNBC by email.

Loren Castle didn't know what she would do after she graduated from the University of Southern California in 2006. But just months after finishing school, she got diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma and had to undergo six months of chemotherapy. It was at this time that she started focusing on cooking and eating healthy, including looking for healthier baked good options that didn't use ingredients like bleached white flour. Castle started baking her own versions of popular cookies using ingredients like oat flour, eventually amassing an entire binder full of them. In 2010, after years of seeing how beloved her cookies were by family and friends, she started selling them at New York farmer's markets. They were a hit there, too. By 2011, Castle's new company, Sweet Loren's, was selling her unique cookie dough at her local Whole Foods. The company has continued to grow over the years, and its now vegan, gluten and allergy-free products are sold at 35,000 grocery stores around