Uber’s regulatory wild ride: Meet the man behind the wheel September 30, 2019 Uber UK and Europe boss Jamie Heywood may have only been in the job for 18 months, but he already personifies what the company has become since its angry confrontation with London mayor Sadiq Khan. That spat over Uber’s London operations has seen the previously cavalier company grow into a firm that is careful and [...]
Peloton shares sink on second day of trading September 27, 2019 Shares in fitness start-up Peloton sank a further four per cent today after making a disappointing stock market debut yesterday. Peloton shares were initially priced at $29 when the company listed in New York yesterday morning, but closed more than 11 per cent down at $25.75. Read more: Peloton prices float at $29 per share [...]
Uber teams up with the Open University to offer drivers free courses September 26, 2019 Ride-hailing giant Uber has teamed up with the Open University to offer free higher education courses to its drivers. The firm has today launched Uber Pro, a tiered loyalty scheme that gives drivers access to a variety of courses depending on the number of trips they have completed as well as ratings they receive from [...]
Reality is finally catching up with overblown Silicon Valley rhetoric September 26, 2019 Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the backbone of a classical education. Today the term is more often pejorative: rhetoric is found wherever reality isn’t. No fantasy, however, can be long sustained. If rhetoric is to deliver its original purpose and persuade, it cannot escape reality for long. So Silicon Valley is discovering. For over [...]
UK weather forecast: Showers to batter Brits until Sunday after rainfall causes travel havoc September 25, 2019 UK faces days of downpours after almost a month’s worth of rain fell across Britain in just 12 hours. Some areas were drenched with above 50mm of rainfall yesterday, according to the Met Office. That was only around an inch off the total rainfall in September. Read more: ‘Torrential’ thunderstorms to shatter London heatwave The [...]
AB InBev prices revived Budweiser Asia listing at lower end of projections September 24, 2019 Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev has priced the revived listing of its Asian business at the bottom of the marketed range, far less than it had hoped to raise when it first tried to list the unit in July. AB InBev priced the revived initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise [...]
Uber suffers blow as TfL grants it two-month London licence September 24, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) has given Uber a two-month licence to continue in London, in a blow to the ride-hailing app which has been on a corporate reform drive. It is understood that the TfL wants further information from Uber before it will consider granting them a more long-term licence. Read more: Sadiq Khan vows [...]
How Kapten is trying to take Uber’s ride-hailing crown September 23, 2019 Uber has an image problem. The ride-hailing app’s popularity has declined on complaints that its drivers are contributing to congestion and pollution on London’s streets. Uber took a big PR hit last year when Transport for London (TfL) took away its operating licence due to issues with the company’s approach to safety and regulation. The [...]
Why Softbank is struggling to attract investment for its second Vision Fund September 22, 2019 Softbank’s Vision Fund was created to disrupt the tech sector – and it succeeded. Launched in 2017, the $100bn (£80.2bn) investment vehicle is the world’s largest tech fund, and made Softbank chief Masayoshi Son the industry’s biggest investor. The unicorn ‘kingmaker’ The gargantuan Vision Fund (VF) quickly became known for making bold bets on promising [...]
Uber poised to bag further temporary licence from TfL September 22, 2019 Uber will have its fate sealed on Wednesday when Transport for London (TfL) makes a decision on the ride-hailing app’s licence in the capital. Uber has currently been running on a 15-month probationary licence, issued last June in the aftermath of Sadiq Khan’s decision in 2017 to strip the operator of its licence over safety [...]