UBER UPDATE UK
A spokeswoman for the firm said: “The central London fee, adding £1 to trips in the capital, will go directly to drivers to help them cover the new
congestion
charge. By exempt- ing Uber Pool trips, we will help reduce traffic and toxicity in London. “We share many of the same goals as the cities that we serve and are committed to addressing the same challenges: reducing indi- vidual car ownership, expanding transport access and tackling air pollution.” Monday April 8 also saw the launch of the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) in London. Drivers of older, more polluting vehicles will pay a daily charge of £12.50 when they enter the congestion charge zone. This is payable 24 hours a day and is in addition to the £11.50 congestion charge fee. Meanwhile, drivers seeking to pay the congestion charge over the weekend were unable to complete the transaction after the website was being upgraded for the 8th April launch launch of the ULEZ charge.
GIG ECONOMY WORKERS RECEIVE NEW RIGHTS ACROSS EUROPEAN UNION
Workers in the so-called “gig economy” including Uber drivers and Deliveroo couriers will be given new employment rights across the European Union, after lawmakers approved the new rules on Tuesday 16 April. The Telegraph reports that the new laws, which EU member states will have three years to implement, put in place minimum rights for freelancer workers, such as compensation for cancelled work and more regular hours. Gig economy workers have previously been treated as indepen- dent contractors instead of employees in some countries and so have not been granted the same employment rights. Under the new laws, approved by the European Parliament, they will now have to be told about their pay on their first day, and will also be able to work for other companies and refuse assignments outside of normal working hours. The European Parliament said the protections will apply to “the most vulnerable employees on atypical contracts and in non-stan- dard jobs”, and will not cover “genuinely self-employed” workers. It is thought they will apply to around three million people. Spanish MEP Enrique Calvet Chambon, from the ALDE liberal group that has pushed through the new rules, said: “From now on no employer will be able to abuse the flexibility in the labour mar- ket. All workers who have been in limbo will now be granted minimum rights thanks to this directive.” Similar rules are planned for the UK, following a review into mod- ern workplace practices by Matthew Taylor, a former advisor to Tony Blair. Those laws, which were announced late last year and were described as the biggest package of workplace reforms for more than 20 years, saw the maximum fine for employers mis- treating their workers quadrupled, to £20,000. The rules will come into force in April 2020 At the time, Business Secretary Greg Clark had said the push
MAY 2019
came as the “world of work is changing, bringing new opportu- nities for innovative businesses and new business models to flourish, creating jobs across the country and boosting our econ- omy”.
UBER SEEKS ABOUT $10 BILLION IN YEAR’S BIGGEST IPO
Investors could get their first look at hundreds of pages of detailed information about Uber Technologies Inc. as the ride- hailing giant gears up to publicly file for an initial public offering (IPO). Bloomberg reports that the global ride-hailing company kicked off a road show to market shares to potential investors last month and will begin trading publicly in May, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. Uber is seeking to raise about $10 billion, one of them said. The offering is expected to be the largest U.S. IPO this year and among the ten largest of all time. Prospective investors are hungry for specific information, and they’re now armed with Uber’s rival, Lyft Inc.’s, March listing as a reference point for picking apart Uber’s business and value. Uber said in February that it generated $50 billion in gross book- ings last year, up about 45 per cent from 2017. But the figures show slowing growth. Of the $11.4 billion of net revenue in 2018, only $3 billion came in the last three months of the year, up only two per cent from the previous quarter. While that number gave the San Francisco-based company a year-over-year quarterly growth rate of 25 per cent - high by most standards - it fell well short of the 38 per cent rate for the third quarter. Investors will want an explanation for Uber’s flattening trajectory, a possible signal that its core ride-hailing business may be stalling. They’ll also want to know where the money is coming from as the company expands into food and freight delivery and scooters and bicycles, as it also eyes driverless and even flying vehicles. Separating Uber’s U.S. ride-hailing business from its global oper- ations will be a particular focus for those wanting to compare it to Lyft, which operates in the U.S. and Canada. A key point of inquiry will be whether Uber has already saturated the U.S. mar- ket. The ride-hailing business is years ahead of food delivery, so prospective investors will likely be less forgiving of losses in the former than the latter. Uber was last valued at $76 billion on the private markets when Toyota Motor Corp. invested in 2018. Last year, bankers jockeying to lead the offering told Uber it could be valued at as much as $120 billion in an IPO. Details on the number of shares to be offered and the intended price range likely won’t come until later. Like many high-growth upstarts, Uber has pushed growth over profit. Its losses for 2018 were $1.8 billion, down 15 per cent from 2017. Racing Lyft to an IPO may have added to Uber’s expenses, with the two trading salvos in a price war. Potential investors might be undeterred by Uber’s losses. Lyft lost $911 million last year and investors valued the company at billions of dollars above its last private market valuation. Like Lyft, Uber will do its best to spin a compelling narrative of world-changing disruption. The offering, planned for the New York Stock Exchange, will be led by Morgan Stanley as well as banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp.
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