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Uber hands off air taxi business to startup Joby Aviation

Uber offloaded another business line this week as it handed over Uber Elevate and a $75 million investment to startup Joby Aviation, the companies announced Tuesday.

The companies also revealed a previous $50 million investment from Uber into Joby during its series C fundraise over the summer, bringing Uber's total investment in Joby to $125 million. Uber's divestiture of its air taxi ambitions marks the end of another experimental unit within the company. On Monday, Uber shed its self-driving car business in a similar deal with startup Aurora.

Biz Carson

Biz Carson ( @bizcarson) is a San Francisco-based reporter at Protocol, covering Silicon Valley with a focus on startups and venture capital. Previously, she reported for Forbes and was co-editor of Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list. Before that, she worked for Business Insider, Gigaom, and Wired and started her career as a newspaper designer for Gannett.

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Mobile gaming's surprising slump is dragging down the game market

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Amazon will lay off workers ahead of holiday season

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Google settles with state AGs over location-tracking disclosures

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FTX files for bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried is out as CEO

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Salesforce adjusted its HR policies to make firing workers easier

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CFPB: 'Pig butchering' and other frauds are the top crypto complaint

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Musk ends remote work at Twitter

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Binance has dropped its plan to buy rival FTX

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John Kerry just announced a new carbon credit plan at COP27

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Meta is laying off more than 11,000 people

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"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here," Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a message to employees that was also posted online. "I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted."

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This global emissions inventory is Al Gore’s secret weapon at COP27

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How Big Tech can deliver on its net zero plans

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Binance has agreed to buy crypto rival FTX

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Tuesday the crypto powerhouse signed a deal to acquire rival FTX.

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Salesforce plans for major layoffs

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BlockFi is back in the crypto yield business

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The DOJ seized $3.4 billion in bitcoin stolen from the Silk Road

The Justice Department said Monday it seized $3.4 billion worth of bitcoin stolen in the 2012 hack of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

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Trump allies are questioning US democracy. Tech is letting them.

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The Biden administration's five net zero technology priorities

The White House just laid out its climate tech priorities to reach net zero by 2050.

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Coinbase's user losses weren't as bad as Wall Street feared

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Biden just boosted heat pumps. Here’s how to maximize the investment.

The Biden administration announced $9 billion in funding Wednesday to improve home efficiency, which could help support the installation of up to 500,000 heat pumps. With winter approaching and utilities warning of gas shortages, there are some major challenges facing the technology that money can be used to tackle.

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Block is cashing in on Cash App

Block beat earnings expectations, with strong growth largely fueled by its Cash App business. Traders sent shares up more than 12% after-hours Thursday.

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Stripe will lay off 14% of its employees

Stripe is laying off 14% of its staff, its co-founders said Thursday, as the fintech startup must start "building differently for leaner times."

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Roku is warning of Q4 advertising slowdown

Roku saw its revenue growth slow in Q3, and warned investors Wednesday that things are about to get worse: “A lot of Q4 ad campaigns are being canceled,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood during the company’s Q4 earnings call. “We’re seeing lots of big categories pull back. Telecom, insurance … even toy marketers are planning on reducing their spending.”

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Green jobs are everywhere, but workers with the proper skills are not

Green jobs and corporate climate pledges abound, but skilled sustainability professionals are scarce.

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Robinhood might be showing signs of a turnaround

Robinhood reported a drop in third-quarter revenue but also a narrower loss on Wednesday, in a sign that it might be stabilizing its business as it attempts to recover from a staggering drop in the stock and crypto trading activity that fueled its growth.

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