Friday, March 29, 2019

Lyft debuts on Nasdaq

THE DAILY CRUNCH
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 2019 By Anthony Ha

We keep an eye on Lyft's IPO, dig into details about the Apple Card and recap Huawei's end-of-year financials. Here's your Daily Crunch for March 29, 2019.

1. Lyft prices IPO at top of range

Lyft raised more than $2 billion Thursday afternoon after pricing its shares at $72 apiece, the top of the expected range of $70 to $72 per share. This gives Lyft a fully diluted market value of $24 billion.

The company is debuting on the Nasdaq stock exchange today, trading under the ticker symbol "LYFT."

2. How Apple Card works

Overall, the Apple Card has some relatively unique and interesting takes on data transparency for users, who are getting what appears to be an information-rich — but easy to interpret — interface, along with a solid set of security features.

3. Huawei books $8.8B profit for 2018 as consumer devices become top moneymaker

Despite an ongoing tussle with the U.S. government, signs look positive for Huawei. The Chinese firm just released its end of year report for 2018 and profit is up 25 percent to 59.3 billion CNY, or $8.84 billion, thanks to its fast-growing smartphone and devices business.

4. Daimler Trucks buys a majority stake in self-driving tech company Torc Robotics

The companies said that the partnership will see Torc working with Daimler Trucks' developers to move into the trucking market, while maintaining the Torc name, team and facilities.

5. Facebook launches searchable transparency library of all active ads

Facebook's Ads Archive that launched in May 2018 previously only included ads related to politics or policy issues, but now shows all active ads about anything.

6. Sinemia says canceled accounts are defense against subscriber misuse

A new statement says the company conducted "a detailed fraud and misuse detection analysis earlier this month," and has removed around 3 percent of accounts due to "misuse or fraudulent activity" since the beginning of March.

7. Snap CEO's sister Caroline Spiegel starts a no-visuals porn site

The 22-year-old college senior tells TechCrunch that on April 13th she'll launch Quinn, which she describes as "a much less gross, more fun Pornhub for women."

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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Thursday, March 28, 2019

Facebook faces discrimination charges

THE DAILY CRUNCH
THURSDAY, MARCH 28 2019 By Anthony Ha

Facebook faces charges of housing discrimination, Apple comments on those ongoing MacBook keyboard problems and Palantir wins a big military contract. Here's your Daily Crunch for March 28, 2019.

1. HUD hits Facebook with housing discrimination charges over ad targeting

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this morning hit Facebook with charges of housing discrimination. The filing states that Facebook has violated the Fair Housing Act through its ad-targeting tools, which allow sellers to limit listings based on categories like race, sex and nation of origin.

In a statement offered to TechCrunch, Facebook said it was "surprised" by the decision. A spokesperson for the company went on to discuss "significant steps" taken to address the discrimination detailed in HUD's filing.

2. Apple 'sorry' for latest MacBook keyboard woes

It's kind of an apology. "We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry. The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard."

3. Palantir wins $800M contract to build the US Army's next battlefield software system

The Washington Post reports that the Silicon Valley data analytics company was tapped over traditional defense contractor Raytheon on the project, which tasks Palantir with delivering a comprehensive combat intelligence hardware and software suite to replace the Army's outdated system.

4. Microsoft gives 500 patents to startups

Microsoft announced a major expansion of its Azure IP Advantage program, which provides its Azure users with protection against patent trolls. Even more interesting, Microsoft is also donating 500 patents to startups in the LOT Network.

5. Kong raises $43M Series C for its API platform

One area the company plans to especially focus on is security — in addition to its existing management tools, where Kong also plans to add more machine learning capabilities over time.

6. Spotify is testing Premium Duo for €12.49 per month

This subscription tier is designed for couples, roommates and all combinations of two persons who live under the same roof. It is a bit more expensive than a Premium account and a bit less expensive than a Family account.

7. Netflix is still too cheap

Scaleworks co-founder Ed Byrne argues that Netflix could probably be cash-flow profitable without reducing investment in content by implementing some pricing model changes.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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