Today’s agenda: Gaza food shortage; Meta gets rebuked; Africa and AI; Trump’s crypto embrace; and the astronaut wears Prada
Good morning. We begin with an exclusive story on Uber, which explored a possible bid for Expedia, the nearly $20bn US travel booking website.
What happened: The ride-hailing company approached advisers in recent months after the idea of an Expedia acquisition was broached by a third party to examine whether such a deal would be possible and how it could be structured, according to three people familiar with the process.
Why it matters: A deal with Expedia would make it by far Uber’s largest acquisition as it looks to diversify further and find new avenues for growth. In recent years, Uber has expanded from its ride-hailing roots into train and flight bookings, food delivery, corporate logistics and advertising as it seeks to transform itself into a “super app”.
Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi told the Financial Times this week: “Anywhere you want to go in your city and anything that you want to get, we want to empower you to do so.” Adding Expedia and its booking technology would turbocharge those ambitions. Read the full report.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:
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High-level meetings: Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte hosts defence ministers for the first time since taking up his role. The European Council’s two-day summit begins with Ukraine and Middle East wars on the agenda.
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Economic data: The EU has September consumer inflation figures. IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva speaks on the global economic outlook ahead of annual IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington next week.
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Central banks: The European Central Bank and Turkey decide on interest rates.
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Results: ABB, Blackstone, Centamin, Mondi, Netflix, Nokia, Publicis Groupe and Schindler report.
Five more top stories
1. The World Food Programme will run out of supplies for hundreds of thousands of people in north Gaza in a week and a half if Israel does not immediately allow a sharp increase in aid deliveries, its director in the Palestinian territories has warned. Israel has prevented the UN from providing any aid to the north for two weeks, according to the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
2. Meta has been criticised for calling its artificial intelligence models “open-source” by the group that has spearheaded open-source software for the past 25 years. The social media group is “confusing” users and “polluting” the term by using it to describe the Llama AI model, which stops short of full openness, said Open Source Initiative head Stefano Maffulli. Read the full interview.
3. Many unbranded toys made outside Europe but sold within the EU by online retailers including Temu and Amazon are dangerous for children, an industry survey shows. Toy Industries of Europe said today that 79 per cent of the toys it tested did not meet EU safety standards. Here’s why toys with choking hazards and chemicals manage to get through.
4. A new digital assets venture promoted by Donald Trump and his three sons is being shunned by much of the crypto industry as executives fear the project will undermine efforts to rebuild trust with consumers after years of high-profile collapses and frauds. Read more on World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture the Trump family is embracing.
5. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer yesterday joined forces with chancellor Rachel Reeves to face down a cabinet revolt over plans for “grim” curbs to public spending next year. Reeves has faced resistance from a number of ministers over her plan to rein in public spending in 2025-26, with some cabinet colleagues writing letters to Starmer to complain about the Treasury’s approach.
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Capital gains tax: Reeves is likely to target her expected increase in UK CGT on the sale of shares rather than second homes, former Treasury officials said.
The Big Read
Artificial intelligence is being marshalled in multiple fields to alleviate problems in some of the world’s poorest countries — in Zambia to help improve medical diagnostics, in Kenya to enable farmers to identify crop disease and in Ethiopia to tailor education materials to pupils’ needs. But some fear the technological rush will deepen a digital divide.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
Federal filings show Kamala Harris raised $500mn more than Donald Trump in the third quarter as the candidates head into the final stretch of the US presidential campaign. The data, released late on Tuesday, provides the public with a better sense of the campaigns’ balance sheets. Here are the four key takeaways.
Take a break from the news
Prada and the US start-up Axiom Space unveiled yesterday the spacesuits that will take astronauts to the Moon on Nasa’s upcoming Artemis III mission. The 200kg-plus extravehicular mobility unit spacesuit comes with a sizing scheme that is expected to accommodate a wide range of body shapes. While the Italian fashion group is known for its experimental nature, the spacesuit endeavour is taking it to the next level.
Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith
Read the full article here