One of Uber’s first employees blames the breakneck pace of growth for the ride-hailing company’s recent scandals.
“There was a focus on growing as quickly as possible, and with that sometimes you miss the infrastructure that you need for a company the size that Uber is today,” Chris Taylor, who is now the U.S. head of bike-sharing company Ofo, told Cheddar.
Uber has faced a string of stumbles over the past year, from allegations of sexual harassment to a $100,000 payoff to hackers. More recently news emerged that the company had instituted an elaborate system to evade regulatory inspections called “Ripley”.
The company’s struggles come as competitors such as Lyft have been gaining momentum. That start-up reportedly saw revenues more than triple in the first half of last year.
Both companies are preparing IPOs. Taylor, who owns shares of his former company says he hopes Uber goes public first.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/bike-share-battle-ofo-takes-on-mobike-and-didi-chuxing).
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
