In a globalax even push fails. And strong debut. Shares of alibaba began trading kong and the first aboveg day, more than 6 listing price. Our top story this week, uber and its uncertain future in looked. The citys Transit Authority refused to grant the ride a new license on monday. The reason, rider safety. Regulator said uber adequately verify drivers identities. Swiftly responded, saying the decision was wrong. He has said safety is the priority. Uber will appeal the ruling. London mayor says much more with regards to safety. Keen for it to be a hotbed of innovation, for new businesses, but youve got to rules. Y the what is clear is ubers passenger safety has been compromised. Withth more, i caught up eric newcomber. I asked him if the uber app or the technology itself allowed all the drivers not to be verified. Is whethere here drivers in london were able to platform even though they werent sort of the right licensed. Properly and, you know, the city of london says were talking about 10,000 rides with driver whoa shouldnt be giving the rides. Thats a big concern for them. Said it, youhas know, tried to it corrected the mistake but, you know, when ropes in aady on the city and under tight scrutiny, having these questions about the right drivers are giving rides is not a problem having. Ts to be yeah. Irk, you talk about eric, you talk about them being on the ropes again. The first time theyve been in this situation. You point out it was september they temporarily had their license revoked as well. What changes have they made over that time frame . You know, the company has shift. Ne a cultural have of the old executives left. I mean, to ubers benefit and to detriment, i think it has sort of slowed down somewhat in with new ideas and new exciting products. You think about, like, uber pool or eats, those sort of new ideas. On the other hand, the company has really tried to crack down, work with regulators and have a discussion. The sort ofxactly area where the Company Hopes to be winning. Unfortunate for the business that they cant make that happen. Are they striking a similar tone with regulators as they trying to years ago, work with them, not be hostile, createc, but trying to more of a friendly working approach . Is that the approach theyre taking this time, and is it working . I think dialogue, working with cities, countries, states, everything in between, but then when they disagree, you know, coming out and saying it. Inean, you do see, you know, the california fight over rules,dent contractor they did sort of say, ok, well, well put money behind it. So theres been some of that, were a company that can throw our weight around more than they might have right after kalanick left the job and their reputation was really in tatters. Tryinghink theyre still to play the cooperative nice guy to the extent that they can. Well, in talking about ubers response to all of this, i want webring in a sound bite that have, at the head of the u. K. Listen. In the u. K. , one thing we are intending to launch quite soon is driver safe matching. So a technology that has been in the u. S. Since 2016 means that on to theironly log account and start trips once we validate either through automated means or through a human contact, that the driver they are. Y say eric, does this help appease regulatory issues going on right now during the appeal process . Thiser is stuck in situation where you can have privacy or you can have safety but you might not be able to have both, right . Theres this sense that uber videos, look at voice you know, listening to voices in a car, now looking at the faces of drivers. These are all areas where uber says, ok, youre worried about whether an uber is safe enough. We can sort of take away a you moreivacy and give safety. So i think on the policy side, debategonna be the big thats gonna rage around uber going forward, just because take hits both ways. But it is really a question of do people expect uber to oversee, you know, a given saying, ok, its up were matching you with a driver and what will happen is between you and the driver. Clearly people think uber needs to police those rides. Gonna mean trying to role out some sort of surveillance to keep track of whats going on youre in the car with that driver. Ericat was bloombergs newcomber. As for how the decision affected competitives, the rivalry said it had started signing up drivers in looped and will in and will in london and will Start Service within weeks. The Indian Company says it already served millions of customers in other u. K. Cities since its rollout. To discuss the competition, i a partnerdave klein, at city. Well, i think there have been a number of issues over the transport for london. The most serious, you know, ofently is the impersonation drivers by, i think, about 15,000 people. Security int have place to verify that a driver is who they say they are. They were asked in london to use facial recognition technology. They did not implement it, i think, in the time frame that they were supposed to. At this point, they have once again had their license suspended. Now, of course they are going to appeal that. Go then i imagine it will through the courts. The real question is, how soon will this actually take effect on the streets . I want to pose that same question to you about how long to actually impact the companys fundamentals. All depends on what happens in the courts. I think, in the near term, they operatingkind of businesses as usual. As they go through their appeal process. If they actually lose a license, youll start to see a real impact to revenue. 5 ofimate kind of 3 to revenue. I think the larger question and the more maybe longterm wouldon, because we expect this to be resolved at some point, would be what competitors as they try to take some share and leverage off of this opportunity. Gabe, where do you see that Competitive Landscape . The end of theat day, i mean, uber has built an incredible product, a great marketplace. However, its really a commodity at this point. And you see here in the u. S. , know, most of the drivers who drive for uber drive for lyft. Overseas it might be grab. But for the consumers, they want a ride. They necessarily care who provides it. The big issue, i think, for uber on the outs been with municipal governments here europe,. S. , in increasingly over the last few years. We thought it would change with the new c. E. O. Sort of doubled down on these disruptive tactics with local government. Were seeing it play out. Were seeing a real pivot here in how government is going to deal with u bers and Companies Like them. This basically shows the trading around 30 a share but most analysts on bullish. T are they have about a 44 price target, which would be a gain from the current price. Much of london, of the regulatory hostilities that we see, are really starting to impact your views on the stock . Theyre certainly not making it easier. Its definitely been impacting the stock price. London. Just its happening in california. You could expect to see other cities taking a look at this. Be a really serious security threat. Drivers, impersonating other drivers, drivers that were driving without licenses to do so. So it could be a real risk. I would think other cities start too. G a look at this the question is, when is the Regulatory Environment kind of around uber . I think its on uber to start to issues moree seriously, address these security threats and start to them to bed and put them behind them. Its been happening way too often for uber. In the first six to nine months as a public company. Better atto be addressing that. Ultimately we think they will be back in london. A really big market. They could kind of navigate these waters and end up in a position. That is going to be a big test for them going forward. Is regulatory issues the biggest head wind for the stock . One of them. Id say competition and issues are the two big challenges. Competition is driving down pricing and is really one of the biggest issues in terms of bigitability and thats a factor over the long term. Regulatory things keep popping up and the bigger they become, the more theyll be a weight on the shares of the stock. That was gabe klein and egal. E. U. s competition commissioner says the continue to will investigate amazon, apple and facebook. Comments on a digital tax, next. News, like bloomberg check us out on the radio. You can listen on the bloomberg app. The e. U. s antitrust chief, margrethe vestager, has made a for herself as a tough regulator who is not afraid to go after big tech. Told bloomberg that the e. U. Will still pursue a global tax, even if push at the ocbc fails. Bloomberg talked to her in france where she was asked how europes regulatory pasture on tech is different than the u. S. And china. To promote what we have going for ourselves already, because in the business to business environment, you of impressive tech. You find engineers, research. Find an impressive startup environment. And, of course, in the all theess to balance possibilities and to tame the downside. Youre talking about innovation. We do hear many times from u. S. That the reason youre so focused on taxation is because we havent really seen innovation in europe. Is that fair . That is absolutely not fair. To say to alls the many businesses who pay their taxes in europe that not shouldme of them contribute but every company should contribute where they do excellent business, because this the bottom line in europe. You do very Good Business here. And is that something that by the endhink, of if by the end of 2020, there is no international agreement, that it would be fair for the e. U. To just go it alone . Yes, t. F. C. It would of course it would. We are strong believers in a global agreement. To see theres a positive feedback on their first draft. That would be the better solution. But if that cannot be met, well, the you look at all businesses who pay their taxes, it would only be fair that we global up again if a solution is not possible. Based on what you hear from weevebeen here many times and havent actually seen progress made. Normally i wouldnt be optimistic when it comes to i think now there is a deeper understanding that of our to update sort corporate taxation, and in that respect, also the Global Dialogue is changing. We also heard today from thatdent van der leyen data is key for those commission. Bea is power but it can also weaponized. What measures to protect consumer data in europe and how you going to deal with that . First, were going to make a strategy. Ive for a. I. , obviously data is the main input. Defines us ashat people in digital ages. Have taken a number of steps. Were sort of digital citizens, ofht, and we have a lot public data that has been made available. But what we need is, of course, a comprehensive strategy for data to be the driving force. Also, a prosperous european economy. And what time line are you looking at . Well, this has to be it in very well with what we are planning to do in artificial intelligence. Have totwo things will come together. But for people to see the full do, well,hat data can then we have to make a specific strategy when it comes to data. That was the e. U. s commissioner, margrethe vestager. And to company news. The Third Quarter approved a the Communication Services sector, when it came to top line performance. Line was telling us a different story with earnings per share growth year to year relatively muted. On tuesday, i broke down those withearnings and top picks mark. A couple of the companies that were getting deeper into investment mode, i think the one lists the top of that would be amazon. Theyre doubling down on this one day investment, faster delivery, making prime one day available. Thats an expensive investment. Actuallyheres also more interesting story at the other side of the profitability curve. Of companiesle that brought forward their ubertability time lines, and lyft. Snapchat is about to print its positive quarter. And pinterest is also turning the corner on profitability too. Struck by the profitability positive influction points than the negative ones. Get into to those. You brought up lyft and uber. Are you fully confident that 2021 targets is intact . No. I think its a probability that theyll get there. Have the ability to get there by getting greater leverage against their insurance cost. Its a big expense for those companies. Companies, ashese private companies, were run really, really inefficiently. Really aggressively. That meant there was a lot of wasteful spending. Public. G them public investors step in and say, we need profits. Teams arement responding to that. I think theres a lot of room for them to take out excess cost without sacrificing growth. My guess is well see that the three quarters and become more confident in 2020 profitability. How much of a hit for uber the london news this week where they temporarily didnt get their license to operate in that city renewed . Thats a big issue. Tbd. Here. To be careful i dont think theyve been kicked out of london. This has happened to them before had their have license threatened. I think theyre going to appeal the decision. Theyre going to be able to continue to operate for a couple of months. I assume theyll be able to work london powerse that be. Theres no question that uber big taxis. Ke on consumers have voted pretty strongly that they like ridesharing services. I assume that consumers in london are going to speak up on too. Its not over yet. They havent been kicked out yet. This happenedat about a year ago, that theyll stay in the market, just have to work on more concessions. That was mark. Coming up, thats the ticket. Ebay is selling stubhub for more billion in cash. Well have details. Plus, alibabas big day. Had to hong kong for the companys big debut. All next. This is bloomberg. We got more details of ebay stubhub sale monday as the unload thed it would ticket marketplace to rival viagogo for 4 billion in cash. Latest from bloomberg reporter. A householdsnt name here in the u. S. Theyre in 70 countries worldwide. Is an entrys here into the u. S. Market, which is one of the Fastest Growing ticket market out there. They really are paying out about brought inbut they some investors to help them. Its a bit of a homecoming also. Eric baker, the founder of viagogo, was actually one of the founders of stubhub but he left originally to ebay. Well, and the c. E. O. , you mentioned, eric baker, had really talked about sort of making this a global company, excited about reuniting these two. Isthat really the play here, viagogo gets the u. S. Market and then stubhub can also have a well . Reach as thats definitely the strategy, because viagogo isnt really present in the market a very fragmented industry. Theres many competitors. Were even trying to bid on this business, and other upstarts. The stubhub founders have really gone out and founded a lot of going afterat are that market. So its going to be competitive and viagogo coming in with good chance in terms of having a good brand consumers. But ebay was under pressure to sell this. It wasnt fitting in and it was looking for other avenues to growth revenue. And you cover ebay for us, so i want to get your take. A lot of analysts said this deal was going to be unlocking a lot of value for ebay. Whats your analysis . Actually does two things for ebay. Sortit buys them time to of fix the core marketplace, which is going to take time. They have to come up with a sustainable strategy. This can help fuel Profit Growth. Like increases the impetus on the other assets, scenarios, like classifieds, things like that. Structurek at cost for ebay, there is more room for operating expenses to go down. So that is under their control. Of fight with the likes amazon and coming next year with facebook also entering the ecommerce market is still we have an answer yet. Were still waiting for a c. E. O. On that end. Y but at least this guys them time to drive the Profit Growth that can. And in your years of covering this company, why havent they keep up with amazon . What has been the biggest head wind for them . Well, the biggest headwind really has been the muscle memory that amazon has developed among its consumers through prime in many ways. Really helped them sort of drive that bus forward and increase loyalty and things like that. So ebay has missed out on that opportunity. Now. While and, you know, once you sort of lose share over there, its harder to get mind share more than market share. So mine share shifts and martin share sort of shifts along with it. The opportunity in if front of ebay is to sort of focus on things in front of them, like advertising, the payments, which higher margin revenue for them. I think this restructuring that into is buying them time. If you look at the valuation for the company, its sort of that top line slowdown. So we continue to see ebay more story than growth the Revenue Growth story in the near term. Reallyger term, it will depend on the strategy as to if they focus on key regions or really the partnerships with the upcoming ecommerce players and back end ofme the the engine. That is a wait and see. Now, profit for growth is a potential here. At 4 billion in cash that are thereing about, any calls going on that this expensive been an purchase . With ebay had been working Goldman Sachs for many months on trying to find the highest bidder. Was pretty competitive at the end. Firms,rivate equity different firms, really wanted d drove the, and that price. We thought it would sell for between 3 and 4 billion. To bring on other investors to help fund this, because viagogo is a private and its not well known so they had to get funding from jpmorgan and others to make this happen. That was leanna. And coming up, tuesday was a banner day for alibaba this week. Trading in hong kong, ending the day more than 6 above its listing price. Have a report. And Bloomberg Technology is Live Streaming on twitter. Us out at technology and be sure to follow our Global Network at tictoc on twitter. Welcome back to best of technology. Asias most valuable corporation, alibaba, made its kongng debut on the Hong Exchange this week. The chinese ecommerce giant biggest share sale in nearly a decade, raising 11 billion. Use the fundsto to drive user engagement, improve Operational Efficiency continuedr innovation. Bloomingtons paul allen from i got details from kong. Erg in hong plenty of cheer, as it was a alibaba butonly also hong kong. The welcome mat was certainly out. D we had the alibaba c. E. O. , being stage by hong kongs secretary. Were dancing mascots as well a