By Roberta Rampton and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for an international framework to prevent the Internet from being “weaponized” as a tool of national aggression, while holding out the prospect of a forceful U.S. response to China over hacking attacks
Read moreLiberty Interactive Corp , which owns home shopping network QVC, said it would acquire Zulily Inc in a deal valued at $2.4 billion to tap into the online retailer's younger clientele and its strong mobile presence. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd owns a stake of about 9 percent in the company. Billionaire John Malone-backed Liberty will combine the five-year old Zulily with its QVC business, which is about 30 years old and seen by analysts as a maturing business in the United States
Read more(Reuters) – Online dating application Tinder said on Wednesday night that it had re-appointed the app’s founder, Sean Rad, as its chief executive. Rad returns after being replaced in March by former eBay Inc executive Chris Payne CEO. “We mutually determined that this wasn’t going to be optimal and thought that a quick transition served everybody best,” the company statement quoted Payne as saying.
Read moreBy Arno Schuetze and Alexander Hübner FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Online meal preparation firm HelloFresh is readying a stock market listing this year as it seeks to capitalize on buoyant equities markets and investor appetite for the Internet food market, according to three people familiar with the matter. Majority owner Rocket Internet and co-investors have mandated Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to organize the listing, the sources said.
Read moreUber Technologies Inc responded by offering free rides to customers to help alleviate transport issues on what it called a “difficult day for getting around.” The company has come under fire in countries around the world, with local taxi drivers complaining that Uber drivers are not properly regulated and have fewer overhead costs, which makes them unfairly competitive. Lawmakers in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, and capital city Brasilia have already voted to ban Uber after protests by local taxi drivers
Read moreSpeaking to analysts after its second-quarter report late on Thursday, Google Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani pointed to Brooklyn-based Etsy as a good example of web companies winning more business due to Google's recent move to index information and pages within third-party apps. “Developers like Etsy are already seeing a boost in traffic as a result of deep linking,” Kordestani said. The jump in Etsy's shares pressured short sellers who recently increased bets against the company, which has grown from selling just wooden goods to include other crafts, vintage goods and recently, mass manufactured products
Read moreMilan prosecutors are investigating six former employees of surveillance software maker Hacking Team in connection with a massive attack on the data system of the Italian cybersecurity firm, sources familiar with the case said on Friday.
Read moreBy Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg is taking a seat on the board of SurveyMonkey, the online polling company that was run by her late husband, Dave Goldberg. SurveyMonkey, a privately held company valued at $2 billion, also appointed to its board David Ebersman, the chief executive officer of behavioral health company Lyra Health and the former chief financial officer of Facebook.
Read moreUber is testing cash payments in India as the online taxi-hailing company seeks a stronger foothold in a country where many fewer people have credit cards than internet connections. San Francisco-based Uber has grown rapidly in value to be worth around $40 billion. Many analysts say that is because Uber has not adapted its business model enough to suit India's needs
Read moreThe maimed woman, Rafida Ahmed, scanned the room nervously. The Atlanta financial executive has been hiding since Islamic militants wielding machetes attacked her on Feb. 26 in her native Bangladesh
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