Google is developing its own competitor to Uber, Bloomberg reports.
The company is preparing to offer its own ride-hailing service, likely in conjunction with its long running driverless car project.
Google, through its venture capital arm Google Ventures, invested $US258 million in Uber in August 2013. Since 2013, Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate development David Drummond has served on Uber’s board of directors.
According to a Bloomberg source, Drummond has informed Uber of the possibility that Google will be entering the transportation network space and the company is now deciding whether to ask him to resign from the board.
Bitcoin mining company KnCMiner raises $15 million
Despite being on the receiving end of several lawsuits from customers, bitcoin mining company KnCMiner has raised $15 million in a Series B Round, led by Accel Partners, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Stockholm-based KnCMiner now largely mines bitcoin for itself, but it originally sold bitcoin mining equipment to customers, who paid thousands of dollars per machine in advance of receiving the equipment.
Some of those customers are suing the company in Swedish courts, alleging the company delayed shipment, sent faulty equipment, and are demanding refunds.
Twitter starts selling ads outside of Twitter
Twitter has started running its “Promoted Tweet” ad unit on top of other people’s apps and sites, in what’s the beginning of a new revenue stream for the social media giant – ads that don’t appear on Twitter, Re/code reports.
Advertisers who already use Twitter can run the same ads in the same format on places outside Twitter that display tweets. Twitter will share the revenue with the third-party platforms.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 305.36 to 16,666.40. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US78 cents.
Kye began his career at a Fairfax daily on the North-West Coast of Tasmania. He has since taken his belongings, and keen interest in technology, to Melbourne. He has a bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science from the University of Tasmania and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from RMIT University.
