President Trump's decision to prevent international students from studying at Harvard University could hurt America's economy by reducing the number of startup founders.

Why it matters: Trump is aiming at Harvard, but buckshot may hit the innovation engine that America needs to stay ahead of China.

The big picture: Around 44% of U.S. unicorn companies — startups valued at $1 billion or more — are founded or cofounded by immigrants from such countries as India, Canada, and Israel.

• Some of those founders moved to the U.S. as children, but many came to the U.S. for school and then stayed to build their businesses.

Zoom in: Harvard gets some tech community side-eye for having less of an entrepreneurial ethos than rivals like Stanford and MIT, but the numbers don't support the critique.

• According to PitchBook, Harvard is one of America's top schools for educating startup founders, ranking third for undergrads, second for grad students, and first for MBAs.
• This includes 146 U.S. unicorns, and an Axios analysis shows that at least 23 of them were founded or cofounded by international students. This cohort includes payments giant Stripe, cybersecurity firm CloudFlare, crypto brokerage FalconX, and generative AI startup Writer.
• Under Trump's edict, none of those foreign founders would have been allowed to enroll.

Zoom out: Harvard obviously is just one U.S. university out of thousands, but it has an outsized global reputation.

• Trump's move could discourage other foreign students from coming here at all, particularly after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News that the Harvard halt "should be a warning to every other university."
• For the 7,000 or so international students currently enrolled at Harvard, some may seek to transfer to other U.S. schools — but it could be quite onerous at this point in the calendar, particularly for those working on scientific graduate degrees that are tied to specific advisers.
• Got to wonder what's going through the head of Israeli students whose visas are being revoked in the name of fighting antisemitism.

Look ahead: This dispute likely will get settled in court, with Harvard this morning suing the Trump administration over what it called "clear retaliation" against the school for "exercising its First Amendment rights."

The bottom line: America's higher education system long has been a magnet for many of the world's best minds and most promising entrepreneurs.

• The immediate pain might be felt by Harvard and its current international students, but we'd all share in the long-term loss.

RedBird Capital Partners has agreed to buy British publisher Telegraph Media Group for £500 million from affiliate RedBird IMI.

Why it's the BFD: This caps a two-year saga centered on foreign ownership of domestic media assets, and finally provides some certainty for the 170 year-old Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Catch up quick: RedBird IMI was formed by New York-based private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and led by ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker, but is majority owned by the UAE government.

• It bought Telegraph in 2023, but the deal soon was blocked after political outcry. RedBird IMI retained control but launched a sale process.
• A buyer was found for The Spectator but not the broader group.
• Last week, U.K. media ownership rules were relaxed to permit foreign state-backed entities to own up to 15% stakes — which will allow RedBird IMI retain a small position in Telegraph.

The bottom line: "The group comprises the right-leaning Daily Telegraph and lifestyle publisher Chelsea Magazine. The company had more than a million subscribers at the end of 2023 ... making it one of the U.K.'s biggest newspaper publishers." — Ben Dummett, WSJ

• Monarch, an SF-based personal finance app, raised $75m in Series B funding at an $850m valuation co-led by Forerunner Ventures and FPV Ventures. axios.link/3FvNHsW

• RevenueCat, a startup powering subscription apps, raised $50m in Series C funding at a $500m valuation. Bain Capital Ventures led, joined by Index Ventures, YC, Adjacent, Volo Ventures, and SaaStr Fund. axios.link/3SCJGpT