Ex-Uber CEO slams former ally's lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO -- Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is skewering a lawsuit filed by a former ally, describing it as a malicious attempt to sever his remaining ties to the widely used ride-hailing service that he co-founded.
Kalanick lashed out in legal documents filed late last weekin response to a Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit filed against Uber earlier this month by one of its major investors and a former Kalanick supporter, Benchmark Capital.
The acrimony sets the stage for what could be a bitter battle pitting Kalanick against Benchmark, a major Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Benchmark has seen its 2011 investment of $12 million in Uber grow into a stake now worth more than $7 billion, based on recent valuations of the company.
Uber is being thrust into the crossfire at a time it is trying to recover from revelations of rampant sexual harassment within the company and allegations that it stole trade secrets from a Google spinoff, Waymo, to build self-driving cars. The San Francisco company is also still looking for a new CEO to replace Kalanick, who resigned in late June under pressure from Benchmark and other investors worried about Uber's direction.
Benchmark alleges Kalanick has been interfering in the CEO search and manipulating Uber's board in a scheme to bring him back as the company's leader.
In his filing, Kalanick contends that Benchmark had secretly plotted against him and launched its plan to oust him from Uber "at the most shameful of times" -- shortly after his mother was killed and his father critically injured in a boating accident on May 27.
Benchmark had no comment on the Kalanick filing, referring back to an earlier statement explaining that the firm felt it had no other choice but to sue to stop unacceptable behavior at Uber.
-- The Associated Press
Apple plans original shows, reports say
Apple Inc. plans to spend about $1 billion on original programming in the next 12 months, intensifying efforts to compete with Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. in video streaming, according to people familiar with the plan.
A new Los Angeles-based team, led by former Sony Corp. television executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, who were hired in June, will produce and buy television shows and films for Apple Music and other future video-streaming products, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.
The Wall Street Journal reported the new budget last week. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Apple has accelerated its push into video over the past year as it seeks to double revenue by 2020 from its services business, which includes products such as Apple Music and the App Store. It released the reality shows Planet of the Apps in June and Carpool Karaoke earlier this month. Executive Jimmy Iovine told Bloomberg News in April that Apple would release as many as 10 original shows by the end of the year.
While the budget of about $1 billion, which the people said is still being finalized, represents an increase in spending for Apple, it is significantly less than the outlays by Netflix and Amazon for original content. Netflix has said it will spend $6 billion on programming this year, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts estimate Amazon's expense will run about $4.5 billion.
-- Bloomberg News
GE, Tesla team up on store solar project
General Electric Co.'s Current unit and Tesla Inc. will install solar systems on 50 Home Depot Inc. stores and sell the power output to the retailer.
The solar rooftops will generate enough electricity to reduce each store's demand from local utility grids by about one-third, Atlanta-based Home Depot said in a statement Thursday. It's part of a company plan to get 135 megawatts of clean energy at its stores by 2020.
Home Depot will buy the output from each of the systems under power purchase agreements in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and Washington, D.C. Six locations will also get battery storage from Tesla. Terms weren't disclosed.
-- Bloomberg News
Infosys chief's exit creates stir in India
NEW DELHI -- India Inc. suffered a new blow late last week when the chief executive of one of the country's leading technology outsourcing companies suddenly resigned, a surprise move he attributed to "a continuous drumbeat of distractions and negativity."
The departure of the executive, Vishal Sikka, from Infosys comes just months after a struggle at the top of the Tata Group, a powerful Indian conglomerate, focused attention on a variety of problems in the country's corporate governance and culture.
Both companies symbolized a shift in India's business mindset in recent decades, as they looked overseas to court clients and deals. Their success in recent years has come as India's overall economy has seen faster growth.
Their more recent struggles, however, have also held similarities, with both companies being caught in battles between the goals of their original founders and a new generation of executives.
Sikka took over as the chief executive of Infosys in 2014, coming from the software company SAP and making it the first time the company looked beyond its original founders to fill the top job.
Sikka will stay on as executive vice chairman, and the company's chief operating officer, U.B. Pravin Rao, will take over as interim chief executive. Infosys said it planned to have a new chief executive in place by the end of March.
-- The New York Times
Facebook plans $750M center in Ohio
NEW ALBANY, Ohio -- Facebook plans to invest $750 million in a new data center in central Ohio, marking another boost for the state's growing technology sector.
The world's biggest social media company announced recently that its 10th data center will be on a 345-acre site in New Albany, just northeast of Columbus.
The center is expected to employ 100 people and begin providing services around 2019. The 900,000-square-foot facility will be powered exclusively with renewable energy.
Republican Gov. John Kasich and other dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the announcement.
Facebook has been adding data centers in the U.S. and internationally to handle the growing number of photos, videos and additional digital content from its 2 billion users.
E-commerce giant Amazon launched three cloud-computing data center sites in Ohio last year.
-- The Associated Press
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