3rd August 2022
Bite-sized business news from the UK and beyond
Good morning Yesterday ridesharing app Uber announced it had recorded its first ever cash flow-positive quarter. It’s a significant milestone for company that has burned through $25bn since its founding 13 years ago in its rush towards rapid global expansion.
Today's stories
- Results round up
- Instagram boss swaps Silicon Valley for London
EARNINGS
Results round up
Other stories to keep you in the loop
- House prices climb 11% despite cost of living squeeze
- Truss suffers setback as criticism of civil service pay plan brings U-turn
- Financial watchdog opens Leeds office in regional push
- Ferrari reports record profits as supercar sales boom
- TikTok plans music app to challenge Spotify and Apple
- Estee Lauder in talks to acquire Tom Ford
- Millennial favourite Oatly stirs up revenue boost
- Corporate insolvencies hit highest level since 2009
ONLINE
Instagram boss swaps Silicon Valley for London
The head of Instagram Adam Mosseri is relocating from the US to London meaning the UK capital will effectively become social media app’s base as parent Meta scrambles to compete with TikTok.
London is Meta’s largest engineering hub outside the US, with more than 4,000 employees including a dedicated Instagram product and creators team.
Mosseri’s move will be seen as a vote of confidence in the city, where Google is spending an estimated $1bn to construct a one-million-square-foot office in King’s Cross.
Meta said Mosseri would support the creator team which is focused on helping certain users make money from their posts and countering the rapid rise of TikTok.
It’s also been reported that Instagram wants to hire more London product staff because it is cheaper to recruit tech professionals in the UK than in San Francisco, where the company has its headquarters.
The news comes just a week after:
- Instagram faced backlash from influencers including Kim Kardashian over changes to make it more like TikTok.
- Meta, which also owns WhatsApp and Facebook, announced that its quarterly revenues declined for the first time ever due to a weak advertising market.
Stat of the day
More than 16,000 businesses which took out a type of government-backed Covid loan have gone bust without paying the money back
Interesting links from around the web
- 100 interesting questions to ask to get to know someone better
- The soft skills employers want
- 5 ways to cope with rejection
