7th April 2022
Bite-sized business news from the UK and beyond
Good morning After a three week battle in the High Court, yesterday Ed Sheeran emerged victorious following accusations that he was a music magpie over his hit song ‘Shape of You’. Sheeran was involved in the dispute with two songwriters who claimed that the 2017 tune rips off parts of their song ‘Oh Why’. And the stakes were high: ‘Shape of You’ is the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify, with more than three billion plays.
Today's stories
Uber+: Uber sets sight on becoming travel super app
Checking out: Speedy checkout startup folds after burning through $120m
TRANSPORTUber sets sight on becoming travel super app
What’s going on?
Why is this important?
Since launching with a taxi service in 2009, Uber has expanded to a range of other modes of transport. Depending on the city, users can book bikes, scooters, motorbikes, boats and even helicopters through the app as well as food delivery through Uber Eats.Yesterday the company unveiled plans to invest further into travel as part of a strategy to move towards a fully-fledged transport booking system or travel super app. This plan had been in the works since 2018 but was postponed due to the pandemic and the accompanying surge in its food delivery business.Uber won’t provide these travel services itself but it will allow users to book them through its app following software integrations with airlines, bus and rail operators, and car rental companies. It will pilot the scheme in the UK, one of its largest markets outside the US, but it could roll out to other countries later if it goes well.
Zooming out
Other stories to keep you in the loop
UK announces ban on Russian coal
UK’s top 0.1% earners have annual income of over half a million
Government to nationalise part of electricity grid to help meet climate goals
Twitter working on edit button but says idea did not come from Elon Musk
Calories now appear on menus in large restaurant chains
FINTECHSpeedy checkout startup folds after burning through $120m
Stat of the day
In 2021 a record 236,000 people globally applied for internships at Goldman Sachs, a jump of 16% with applicants’ success rate of 1.5%.
Interesting links from around the web
90 ways to survive the cost of living crisis
The best (and worst) fancy hot cross bun flavours for Easter 2022
10 tips for getting a new job
