TODAY'S CURATED LINKS
Must Read of the Day: "This was the decade when companies behind some of the world’s most-used apps went public at record valuations. In 2019 alone, there were 13 U.S. “unicorns,” or startups valued at $1 billion or more, that made their public debuts—far more than in any prior year. Despite their growing numbers and valuations, the performance of unicorns has been a mixed bag. On the whole, an investor in the second half of the decade was likelier to have put money into a unicorn that was unprofitable and whose value has dropped as a public company than an investor in the decade’s first half." Source: WSJ
"SoftBank Vision Fund employees depict a culture of recklessness. Masayoshi Son’s venture capital firm is famous for making outsize bets on tech startups. It has also been described as an environment of sycophancy and harassment." Source: Bloomberg
"Amazon, Apple, Google and the Zigbee Alliance announced a new partnership. It’s called Project Connected Home over IP, and it will work to create a new standard that will make it easier for the fragmented ecosystem of smart home products to work together. Right now, Amazon, Google, Apple and others compete in the smart home space, but this has only created headaches for consumers and companies that make smart home products." Source: CNBC
"Facebook told two senators why it tracks users’ locations even when their tracking services are turned off. The lawmakers now say Facebook should give users more control over their data. Facebook was responding to an inquiry from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who asked Facebook last month to “respect” users’ decisions to keep their locations private." Source: CNBC
"Broadcom is looking to sell one of its wireless-chip units, a move that would accelerate the company’s shift away from its roots as a semiconductor maker. Broadcom is working with Credit Suisse to find a buyer for its radio-frequency, or RF, unit, a segment of its wireless-chip business that makes filters used in cellphones to clarify signals... The unit had $2.2 billion in revenue in Broadcom’s 2019 fiscal year and is one of the original businesses of predecessor company Avago. It could be worth $10 billion." Source: WSJ
"Governments around the world are pressing Uber Technologies to give employment benefits to its army of gig drivers. Uber, meanwhile, is pursuing a different tactic: applying its gig economy model to all kinds of work. On Wednesday, Uber plans to announce an expansion of a temporary staffing service it has been testing in Chicago. The program, called Uber Works, connects workers with businesses offering short-term jobs in hospitality, events, light industrial and other sectors." Source: Bloomberg
"FedEx says continued investments in seven-day delivery should help it “lap” Amazon in 2021. The comments come after FedEx reported disappointing fiscal second-quarter results and lowered its full-year earnings outlook for 2020. Earlier this week, Amazon announced it will temporarily prevent sellers from using FedEx’s ground-delivery service for Prime orders." Source: CNBC
"Blaming the 'volatile state of the global mobility landscape' and rising infrastructure costs, Share Now, the car sharing service owned by Daimler and BMW, has announced that it is pulling out of North America as of February 29, 2020. On the same date — citing 'low adoption rates' — Share Now will also cease operating in three European cities: Florence, London and Brussels. Instead, the focus will switch to remaining European cities where it operates and where it thinks the service remains viable." Source: TechCrunch