Duolingo bags unicorn status after Google cash injection secures $1.5bn valuation December 4, 2019 Language-learning platform Duolingo has joined the ever-growing ranks of tech unicorns, reaching a valuation of $1.5bn (£1.1bn) thanks to funding from Google’s venture capital arm. The US firm today announced it has bagged $30m in a Series F round led by existing investor Capital G – a private equity fund owned by Google parent company [...]
The best quotes from Elon Musk’s first day of ‘pedo guy’ testimony December 4, 2019 Elon Musk has offered yet more memorable quotes on his first day of testimony at a defamation case over his calling a British cave diver a “pedo guy”, with the Tesla chief’s lawyer arguing he did not intend for the insult to be a statement of fact. Musk tweeted “pedo guy” in reference to Vernon [...]
British tech tax to tie up Trump trade talks December 3, 2019 Tech bosses have warned that a digital services tax, included in the Conservative manifesto, could blow future US–UK trade talks off course. US President Donald Trump this week threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on some French goods, including cheese and wine, in retaliation to a similar tax passed into French [...]
Google founders to step down as executives of parent firm Alphabet December 3, 2019 Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two co-founders of Google, have announced their intention to step down as executives of parent firm Alphabet. The reins will be passed on to current Google chief Sundar Pichai, who will hold the role of chief executive at both Google and Alphabet going forward. “With Alphabet now well-established, and [...]
Tiktok accused of secretly sending US user data to China December 3, 2019 Chinese social media platform Tiktok has been accused of transferring “vast quantities” of user data to China, despite its assurances that all data was stored in the US. A class-action lawsuit filed in California said Tiktok “clandestinely has vacuumed up and transferred to servers in China vast quantities of private and personally-identifiable user data”. Read [...]
France vows to hit back at US tariffs as luxury stocks fall December 3, 2019 The European Union will hit back at “unacceptable” US tariff threats against French products, finance minister Bruno Le Maire has warned. Shares in luxury French retailers took a hit this morning after the US issued new tariff threats in retaliation against the country’s new tech tax. Read more: US to slap France with tariffs over [...]
Oaktree abandons attempt to stall $6bn Inmarsat deal December 3, 2019 Inmarsat shareholders have dramatically dropped their objections to a take-private deal on the day they were set to raise them in court. A consortium led by Oaktree Capital was expected to try and block a $6bn offer made by hedge funds in the High Court today. Oaktree, Kite Lake Capital Management and Rubric Capital Management [...]
Private wealth becomes main source of funding for European venture capital December 3, 2019 Private wealth is now the main source of funding for European venture capital, according to a new report, as a new generation of entrepreneurs ditch more traditional assets in favour of funding the next generation of startups. A fifth of fundraising by European VC firms in 2018 came from family offices and private individuals as [...]
US to slap France with tariffs over ‘burdensome’ digital tax December 2, 2019 The US has vowed to slap tariffs of up to 100 per cent on $2.4bn (£1.6bn) of French goods, in retaliation over findings that a new digital services tax in the country would harm US tech companies. US trade representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said its investigation found that the French proposal was “inconsistent with prevailing [...]
Food delivery apps serve up extra £400m in restaurant revenue December 2, 2019 Food delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are serving up an extra £400m in revenue for European restaurants, according to a new report. Third-party platforms, that customers can use to order food from a variety of restaurants, have also increased profit across the Europe’s restaurant sector, with venues in London seeing [...]