One of Uber’s first employees blames the breakneck pace of growth for the ride-hailing company’s recent scandals.
“There was a focus on growing as quickly as possible, and with that sometimes you miss the infrastructure that you need for a company the size that Uber is today,” Chris Taylor, who is now the U.S. head of bike-sharing company Ofo, told Cheddar.
Uber has faced a string of stumbles over the past year, from allegations of sexual harassment to a $100,000 payoff to hackers. More recently news emerged that the company had instituted an elaborate system to evade regulatory inspections called “Ripley”.
The company’s struggles come as competitors such as Lyft have been gaining momentum. That start-up reportedly saw revenues more than triple in the first half of last year.
Both companies are preparing IPOs. Taylor, who owns shares of his former company says he hopes Uber goes public first.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/bike-share-battle-ofo-takes-on-mobike-and-didi-chuxing).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
