GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats were sued on Monday for allegedly exploiting their dominance in restaurant meal deliveries to impose fees that consumers ultimately bear through higher menu prices, including during the coronavirus pandemic. In a proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court, three consumers said the defendants violated U.S. antitrust law by requiring that restaurants charge delivery customers and dine-in customers the same price, while imposing "exorbitant" fees of 10% to 40% of revenue to process delivery orders. The consumers, all from New York, said this sticks restaurants with a "devil's choice" of charging everyone higher prices as a condition of using the defendants' services....
Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) said last week its new streaming video service Disney+ has 50 million subscribers, but this is no reason for investors to celebrate, according to Strategic Wealth Partners Mark Tepper.Streaming Unprofitable Business Disney's management previously guided for 60-90 million subscribers by 2024 so announcing 50 million subscribers in 2020 certainly puts the company "way ahead" of schedule, Tepper said on CNBC. However, the streaming unit accounts for less than 10% of its total business and remains unprofitable.Meanwhile, Disney has to navigate through some "serious headwinds" as 40% of its business is derived from parks. The unit will likely remain under pressure for longer than many assume and attendance will be low until the coronavirus is resolved with a cure or vaccine."Do you really want your kids touching a ride that 100 other kids touched that day?" Tepper asked. "Probably not. So I'm concerned the attendance at parks...
COVID-19’s disruption won’t impact Amazon’s (AMZN) “leading position in e-commerce and cloud services,” so claims Tigress Financial’s Ivan Feinseth.It is hard to argue. If any company has proven its resilience in the face of the global pandemic, it is the e-commerce giant. Amazon shares are up by 17% year-to-date, compared to the S&P's 15% drop.Amazon’s product portfolio is so wide and all-encompassing that according to Feinseth, its business performance will only accelerate over the near and long term.Where to start? Never mind the fact COVID-19 has driven consumers to further rely on Amazon’s delivery services, the list of growth drivers makes for an increasingly long read.Take, for example, Amazon’s voice service Alexa. Amazon has over 70% market share in the voice home control technology market with “hundreds of millions of Alexa enabled devices that customers interact with billions of times a day.” Alexa’s features are constantly upgraded with new capabilities added...
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute-led study will provide guidelines for integrating automated driving systems into fleets, including a demonstration involving a highly automated truck traveling cross country. ...
According to a recent analysis from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), more than 230,000 U.S. bridges need either major repair work or should be replaced. ...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil prices tracked higher in Asia, drawing support from the commitment by the biggest producers to curb output even as doubts remain as to whether the cuts will be enough to offset the demand destruction caused by Covid-19.Futures in New York rose 1.8%, after easing 1.5% on Monday. The OPEC+ alliance agreement to slash production by 9.7 million barrels a day starting in May amounts to the largest coordinated cut in history, but is still dwarfed by the estimated 20 million barrels a day or greater decline in oil consumption as a result of the pandemic.Saudi Arabia is ready to cut production further if needed when the OPEC+ alliance meets again in June, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the energy minister, told reporters on a conference call on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Monday that the cut would be closer to 20 million barrels per...
