1. Uber-Grab Merger Fined Millions
Back in March, Uber sold its Southeast Asian business to Grab, Singapore-based ride-hailing rival, in exchange for a 27.5% stake. Singapore, on the other hand, claimed this merger violated their anti-competition laws and slapped a $9.5M fine to both companies. After months of investigation into how this merger affected Singapore, it was found that fares rose 10-15% and Grab now holds an 80% market share. Now that the playing field is being leveled out, other ride-hailing services are entering the market, such as Indonesia’s Go-Jerk and Singapore-based Ryde.
(Source: Reuters, TechCrunch)
2. SiriusXM Acquires Pandora
SiriusXM is set to buy Pandora for $3.5B, giving the pair a $34B market value, compared to Spotify’s $31.2B. With Sirius’ satellite subscription, Pandora’s radio will be able to merge into this business. The services for both companies will not change, however, promos for each one will likely appear on the other. The merger will help each other in different ways. For example, SiriusXM will be able to boost their personal recommendations and mobile listening, whereas, Pandora will be able to match closer to Spotify’s and Apple Music’s growth. This could also mean an established dominance in automobiles, which has yet to happen with other music streaming services. On the downside, one glaring gap in this takeover is neither Pandora or SiriusXM can help the other expand internationally.
3. Nike Pays Homage to Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods finally won the Tour Championship, 5 years and 50 days since he claimed a tournament trophy. Nike decided to celebrate the victory by putting together a clever Instagram post. The first image of Woods says “He’s done,” and a swipe to the right shows the rest of Wood’s image celebrating with the words “it again.”
With NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick recently becoming Nike’s new star (increasing Nike’s market value by $6B), Woods’ comeback aligns nicely with Nike’s campaign and is just in time for the 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” tagline. When Woods was asked after the win how he felt about probably breaking the internet,” Woods replied, “when I [first] came out here, there was no internet.”
(Source: AdAge, Sports Illustrated)
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