Bloomberg The days when Venmo was just known as the app for splitting dinner bills with friends are over. PayPal Inc.’s peer-to-peer payments service can now be used to make mobile purchases at more than 2 million US retailers, an effort to broaden Venmo’s appeal and bring in more money. The announcement significantly expands the app’s reach in stores, up ...
Read More »UK lawmakers slam Amazon, EBay for ‘tax fraud failure’
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc., EBay Inc. and other online marketplaces are failing to take seriously online tax fraud by vendors using their platforms, a panel of UK lawmakers said, calling on the companies to work with the government’s tax authority to tackle the problem. The tax agency, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, has been too timid in using its powers and ...
Read More »HelloFresh set to surpass Blue Apron
Bloomberg HelloFresh, the meal-kit startup backed by Rocket Internet SE that plans an initial public offering in Frankfurt, is telling investors that it’s set to overtake its rival Blue Apron Inc. in the US in the near term. HelloFresh generated sales of $169 million in the US in the second quarter, up from 120 million euros in the first three ...
Read More »IBM expects sales to grow for the first time in five years
Bloomberg After more than five years of declining sales, IBM says it will finally show investors it can grow again. Some of that boost will come from one of the company’s legacy hardware businesses, rather than the new services such as cloud and data analytics on which IBM has been pinning its growth prospects. Fourth-quarter revenue is projected to be ...
Read More »From anime to M&A, how Netflix plans to spend $8bn
Bloomberg While competitors race to catch up with Netflix Inc., the largest online TV service in the world is adhering to a simple strategy to maintain its lead: you have to spend money to make money. The streaming pioneer will deploy as much as $8 billion on programming next year, as much as a third more than in 2017. The ...
Read More »Xi outlines vision to turn China into a global power by 2050
Bloomberg President Xi Jinping warned of “severe†challenges while laying out a road map to turn China into a leading global power by 2050, as he kicked off a twice-a-decade party gathering expected to cement his influence into the next decade. In a speech that ran for more than three hours on Wednesday, Xi declared victory over “many difficult, long ...
Read More »Iraqi forces widen push to recapture territory from Kurds
Bloomberg Iraqi forces pressed their campaign to retake oil-rich territory from Kurdish fighters, widening a conflict that has roiled markets and could stoke tensions outside the country’s borders. Militiamen in the Popular Mobilization Forces operating alongside federal government troops captured the town of Sinjar without resistance, Rayan Al-Kildani, a spokesman, said. “The next step is to continue imposing security, order, ...
Read More »Kim’s nuclear arsenal a recipe for disaster, warns US admiral
Bloomberg The top US military commander in the Pacific warned the situation in North Korea is a “recipe for disaster,†as the region prepares for Donald Trump’s first visit to the region as president. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, said in a speech in Singapore that China must do more to pressure its neighbor and ally ...
Read More »Merkel’s coalition talks face a ‘divided’ Germany
Bloomberg Angela Merkel is facing pressure to put her stamp on Germany’s next government as the chancellor begins talks on uniting four disparate parties into a coalition to govern Europe’s biggest economy. Almost a month after her Christian Democratic-led bloc emerged weakened from a national election, Merkel meets separately with the pro-market Free Democratic Party and the Greens on Wednesday ...
Read More »Zuma’s moves risk split in S Africa ruling alliance
Bloomberg South African President Jacob Zuma’s decision to fire communist party leader Blade Nzimande from his cabinet is widening a rift with two of the African National Congress’s closest allies before a key leadership conference in December. In dismissing Nzimande as higher education minister, Zuma, 75, targeted the communist party, which along with the main labor confederation, Cosatu, has said ...
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