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    • Source: Didi to lay off ~2,000 people, or 15% of its workforce, from non-essential business units this year, as it focuses on its core ride-hailing services (Josh Horwitz/Reuters)

    Josh Horwitz / Reuters: Source: Didi to lay off ~2,000 people, or 15% of its workforce, from non-essential business units this year, as it focuses on its core ride-hailing services  —  SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Didi Chuxing will lay off 15 percent of its staff or about 2,000 people this year, a source said … Source:

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    • Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone Group agree to pay €46 per share for Scout24, valuing the Germany-based online classifieds company at €4.9B (Thomas Mulier/Bloomberg)

    Thomas Mulier / Bloomberg: Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone Group agree to pay €46 per share for Scout24, valuing the Germany-based online classifieds company at €4.9B  —  – Hellman, Blackstone sweeten offer for classifieds company  — CEO: Deal is chance to make Scout24 leading digital player Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone Group agree to pay

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    • Sources: Apple buys Pullstring, an SF-based enterprise voice app developer, for up to $40M; Pullstring has raised around $44M in venture capital (Axios)

    Axios: Sources: Apple buys Pullstring, an SF-based enterprise voice app developer, for up to $40M; Pullstring has raised around $44M in venture capital  —  Apple has agreed to buy Pullstring, a San Francisco-based startup that enables the design and publishing of voice apps, Axios has learned. Sources: Apple buys Pullstring, an SF-based enterprise voice app

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    • Uber sues New York City over the law that caps the number of ride-hail cars and pauses the issuance of licenses to drivers for 12 months starting last August (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)

    Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge: Uber sues New York City over the law that caps the number of ride-hail cars and pauses the issuance of licenses to drivers for 12 months starting last August  —  The city’s approach amounts to a ‘ban first, study later’ approach, Uber says  —  Uber filed a lawsuit on

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    • Google rolls out ARCore 1.7 with a new Augmented Faces API for the front-facing camera that can overlay effects on a user's face even without a depth sensor (Abner Li/9to5Google)

    Abner Li / 9to5Google: Google rolls out ARCore 1.7 with a new Augmented Faces API for the front-facing camera that can overlay effects on a user’s face even without a depth sensor  —  ARCore is Google’s platform for mobile augmented reality which does not require specialized hardware. Google rolls out ARCore 1.7 with a new

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    • SEC filing: Spotify paid €300M to buy Gimlet Media and Anchor; Spotify told investors it expects to spend $400M-$500M in total on podcast acquisitions in 2019 (Todd Spangler/Variety)

    Todd Spangler / Variety: SEC filing: Spotify paid €300M to buy Gimlet Media and Anchor; Spotify told investors it expects to spend $400M-$500M in total on podcast acquisitions in 2019  —  Streaming-audio giant Spotify shelled out around €300 million, or about $337 million, to buy podcasting companies … SEC filing: Spotify paid €300M to buy

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    • Pokémon Go creator Niantic agrees to settle class action with property owners for unsanctioned PokéStop and Gym placements; monetary damages up for mediation (Eriq Gardner/Hollywood Reporter)

    Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter: Pokémon Go creator Niantic agrees to settle class action with property owners for unsanctioned PokéStop and Gym placements; monetary damages up for mediation  —  After fighting over the meaning of “trespass” in the digital age, Niantic agrees to a system for resolving nuisance complaints … Pokémon Go creator Niantic agrees

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    • Delaware filing: Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly to sell at a profit, is raising $200M Series E-2 at an estimated valuation of $3.7B (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

    Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Delaware filing: Opendoor, which buys homes from sellers directly to sell at a profit, is raising $200M Series E-2 at an estimated valuation of $3.7B  —  The housing market is predicted to cool this year, but the market for startups selling houses?  It seems to be heating up. Delaware filing: Opendoor,

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    • Uber reports Q4 revenue of $3B, up 24% YoY, gross bookings of $14.2B, up 37% YoY, and adjusted EBITDA losses of $842M, up 88% YoY and 60% QoQ (Kia Kokalitcheva/Axios)

    Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios: Uber reports Q4 revenue of $3B, up 24% YoY, gross bookings of $14.2B, up 37% YoY, and adjusted EBITDA losses of $842M, up 88% YoY and 60% QoQ  —  Uber on Friday released its latest quarterly financials, likely its last before formally filing to go public. showing continued growth and investment

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    • The right to repair movement hopes it is getting a strong corporate backer after US insurance giant Allstate buys the smartphone repair company iCracked (Matthew Gault/Motherboard)

    Matthew Gault / Motherboard: The right to repair movement hopes it is getting a strong corporate backer after US insurance giant Allstate buys the smartphone repair company iCracked  —  With Allstate’s purchase of iCracked, you could say the right to repair movement is … in good hands. The right to repair movement hopes it is

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