EV-maker Rivian sees 36% decline in deliveries

Irvine-based electric vehicle maker Rivian reported a 36% decline in first-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, due to soft demand.

The company delivered 8,640 vehicles in the quarter ended March 31, down from 13,588 a year earlier. The EV maker also produced 14,611 vehicles in the first quarter, compared with 13,980 vehicles a year ago.

Rivian reaffirmed its annual production forecast and expects to announce its quarterly financial results on May 6.

Rivian is counting on the roll-out of its less expensive R2 next year to boost demand and compete with EV heavyweight Tesla’s Model Y.

Amazon bids to buy TikTok as deadline looms

Amazon has put in a bid to purchase TikTok, a Trump administration official said Wednesday, in an eleventh-hour pitch as a U.S. ban on the platform is set to go into effect Saturday.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Amazon offer was made in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The New York Times first reported on the bid.

President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day gave the platform a reprieve, barreling past a law that had been upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court, which said the ban was necessary for national security.

Under the law, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance is required to sell the platform to an approved buyer or take it offline in the United States. Trump has suggested he could further extend the pause on the ban, but he has also said he expects a deal to be forged by Saturday.

The existence of an Amazon bid surfaced as Trump was scheduled today to meet with senior officials to discuss the coming deadline for a TikTok sale.

Technology giant Oracle, private equity firm Blackstone Group and Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — whose founder Marc Andreessen is close to Elon Musk — and bicoastal private equity firm Silver Lake, are also said to have expressed interest, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Supreme Court Rules Against Makers of Flavored Vapes; ruling backs FDA order

The Supreme Court handed a victory to the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, tossing out an appeals court decision that had found the agency acted unlawfully in rejecting applications from two manufacturers of flavored liquids used in e-cigarettes with names such as Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry, Signature Series Mom’s Pistachio and Suicide Bunny Mother’s Milk and Cookies.

In a unanimous decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, the justices upheld an FDA order that prohibited retailers from marketing flavored tobacco products, sending the case back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the opinion, Alito highlighted the possible dangers of the flavored products appealing to middle and high school students, writing that “the kaleidoscope of flavor options adds to the allure of e-cigarettes and has thus contributed to the booming demand for such products among young Americans.”

The decision comes at a fraught turning point for the agency.

The agency is grappling with deep cuts to its tobacco division staff and its counterpart at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathers data on youth tobacco use. Amid thousands of staff cuts, Brian King, the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, was offered a new role in the Indian Health Service, with the option to work in Alaska or New Mexico — a tacit ouster.

Compiled from reports from AP, CNN, New York Times and staff