Net giant gives £760million to Uber arch-rival ride-sharing app LYFT
It comes as a smack in the face to Uber which has fallen out with Alphabet despite also having a major stake in the company.
GOOGLE has squared up to UBER by handing £760million to the cab company’s arch-rival.
ALPHABET, Google’s parent company, is leading a group of firms making a huge investment in taxi and ride- sharing app LYFT.
Lyft has become increasingly popular in the US and the funding boost could help it expand to the UK and Europe.
It comes as a smack in the face to Uber which has fallen out with Alphabet despite also having a major stake in the company.
Google’s owners are involved in a court case over claims that Uber stole secret details on its self-driving car technology, which Uber denies.
It is the latest in a series of problems plaguing Uber, which was stripped of its licence to operate in London last month amid claims it treated drivers unfairly and failed to report sexual assaults to police.
The funding for Lyft was led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s investment arm. One of its partners, David Lawee will join Lyft’s board.
He said: “Ridesharing is still in its early days and we look forward to seeing Lyft continue its impressive growth.”
It means Lyft is worth around £8.35billion, up from around £3.8billion at the start of the year.
Uber is valued at between £38billion to £53billion.
This month, Lyft celebrated its 500millionth ride and is now available in cities lived in by 95 per cent of Americans.
A spokesman said: “While we have made progress, we are most excited about what lies ahead.”
