Uber Snaps up Postmates; Microsoft Xbox Games Showcase July 23rd; Facebook Hits The Pause on Hong Kong Data Requests; EV Maker Byton Suspends Operations

We reported last week that a deal was in the works. Now, Uber will buy Postmates for $2.65 billion. Reuters.com reports that its an all stock deal. Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber’s food delivery business, Uber Eats, is expected to continue to run the combined delivery business. Postmates has been around since 2011, and accounted for 8% of the US meal delivery market as of May. Previously, Uber had been eyeing Gubhub. Grubhub went to Just Eat Takeaway.com last month for $7.3 billion.

If you are lusting for more info on Halo: Infinite, you don’t have long to wait now. According to geekwire.com, Microsoft Xbox Games Showcase will be coming up July 23rd. They will livestream starting at 9AM. It’s expected that Redmond will also release more info about Forza, Gears of War, Everwild, and Fable. There should also be more on the new Xbox Series X console that is expected out for the holidays.

China has been tightening down Hong Kong more and more…there new national security law that has been imposed on Hong Kong is thought to give police agencies the power to order individuals and companies to remove content. Now, engadget.com says Facebook isn’t going to immediately comply. Facebook’s WhatsApp will pause any processing of requests for user data from Hong Kong police while it reviews the new regulation. It should be noted that they may cave eventually…Apple did when they removed the Hong Kong protest-tracking app, and Cupertino was roundly criticized for giving in to Chinese government pressure. It’s good that for now, Facebook is bucking China’s demand. In their case, Facebook doesn’t have to worry about losing device production…just users…which theoretically they can replace elsewhere more easily than Apple would be able to do if they had to move production.

Chinese EV startup Byton has suspended operations at least for the next 6 months. Bloomberg reports that the company had been launched by former BMW managers, and had about 1,000 employees in China and 500 elsewhere. Backers included Foxconn, Tencent Holdings, and battery giant Contemporary Amperex, which has a deal to supply batteries to Tesla. The China EV market had slowed in 2019, but really took a hit with the pandemic…EV sales there dropped 49% in March, 30% in April, and 26% in May.