*By Michael Teich*
Uber is driving itself to the center of the scooter scuffle with its strategic partnership with Lime, a deal that will allow users to eventually request an electric scooter through its app.
Axios reporter Dan Primack, who broke the story, says there's a key advantage to the bike-sharing company choosing Uber as a partner over rival Lyft.
"One of the big reasons Lime wanted to partner with Uber is because Uber has much deeper geographic penetration, especially internationally," Primack said in an interview on Cheddar Tuesday. On top of that, "Uber has the deepest pockets right now. "
A fragile relationship with city officials, though, could hold back Uber and Lime from a complete transportation takeover. San Francisco is only granting five permits for companies to operate a dock-less, rentable electric scooter programs on city streets. While Primack said it's still unclear whether either company will be one of the chosen, he noted that Lime's survival does not depend on the SF market because it is already in 80 other regions.
"It wouldn't be end of world if they didn't get into San Francisco."
Despite sky-high valuations for scooter companies such as Lime and Bird, Primack told Cheddar it is unlikely that the industry is in a bubble. He also does not expect the deals in the scooter business to lose momentum, predicting that we could soon see Uber fully acquire Lime.
"My guess is that it would happen quick," he said.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/primack-uber-best-positioned-in-scooter-wars)
The labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve’s attempts at loosening it, with U.S. applications for unemployment benefits down again last week and remaining at historically low levels.
General Motors (GM) announced that it will stop production on the current sixth generation of the iconic Chevrolet Camaro. Production at the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan is expected to end in January 2024.
Web browser Mozilla is investing $30 million into launching a startup, called Mozilla.ai, focused on building a "trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem."
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Lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday in a high-stakes hearing on the future of the popular, Chinese-owned video sharing platform in the U.S.
Actress Lindsay Lohan appears at the Christian Siriano Fall/Winter 2023 fashion show in New York, Feb. 9, 2023. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday, March 22, that Lohan, rapper Akon and several other celebrities have agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to settle claims that they promoted crypto investments to their millions of social media followers without disclosing they were being paid to do so.
Cheddar News breaks down what to look for on The Day Ahead, as TikTok CEO is scheduled to testify before Congress on Thursday while earnings from General Mills and Darden Restaurants are on tap. Residential sales data for February is also scheduled to be released.
Virgin Orbit is reportedly in talks for a $200 million rescue plan and the company said in a regulatory filing that it plans to resume operations on Thursday.
