*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 global bottled water industry is booming, and it's coming at a steep environmental cost, according to the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Sanofi has announced that it will lower the list price of its insulin drug, Lantus, by 78 percent and will set a $35 cap on out-of-pocket costs for all patients.
Eleven of the biggest U.S. banks Thursday announced a $30 billion rescue package for First Republic Bank in an effort to prevent it from becoming the third to fail in less than a week and head off a broader banking crisis.
A total of 33 states and the District of Columbia now allow at least some form of sports wagering, but the prospects are mixed for expanding sports betting to additional states this year.
Neel Shah and Caitlin Kelly describe how their company EZ Newswire fared following Silicon Valley Bank's stunning collapse as other banks are feared to be in similar precarious states.
This photo taken on Feb. 24, 2023 shows a XPeng X2 flying car at the headquarters of XPeng Aeroht in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. Guangzhou, one of China's major car manufacturing bases, has been striving to attract investment in new energy vehicle NEV industry in recent years.
Tom Graff, head of investments with Facet Wealth, joined Cheddar News to discuss what investors should know about the stock market amid concerns about the banking sector.
