Street Fight: Uber’s Q3 Losses ‘Eye-Popping’, Snap Makes Moves on Ad Tech

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Uber’s Loss Exceeds $800M in Third Quarter on $1.7B Net Revenue (Bloomberg)
Even as Uber exited China, the company’s financial loss has remained eye-popping. In the first nine months of this year, the ride-hailing company lost significantly more than $2.2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

At Hearst, Its Papers Get Tested to Perfect the Vital ‘User Experience’ (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: Revenue SVP Esfand Pourmand wants the group’s 17 dailies and 57 weeklies to maximize their revenue potential. But he knows they have to do something else first (and every second of every day) — enrich “user experiences” across multiple platforms.

With Acquihire of Flite, Snapchat Looks to Boost Ad Tech Capabilities (Recode)
Snap is entering an important stretch for the company, especially when it comes to ad tech. Snap has confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO, which could come as soon as March, and its ads API, which will let marketers automate their ad buys using bidding algorithms, will likely be a major revenue driver once it’s up and running.

The Buzz on Wikileaf: Compare Pot Prices Then Map a Route to Your Next High (Street Fight)
Rick Robinson: A GasBuddy for pot? Why not? That seems to be the conclusion of one Seattle-based entrepreneur, whose location-based pricing-and-reviews service wants a slice of what he estimates will be an $8 billion industry in 2017.

Small Business Owners Pessimistic About Holidays but Hopeful for 2017 (MediaPost)
Small business owners are preparing for weaker sales this holiday season, with only 23% expecting an increase in sales, down from 29% a year ago. Only 25% of respondents cited keeping up with technology as their top business concern for the coming year.

4 Ways to Dust Off Your Website and Use It to Engage with Customers (Street Fight)
Spinsored Content: Creating fresh content and having the time and staff to devote to keeping the website updated are other challenges business owners frequently point out as barriers to building and maintaining a website. But it shouldn’t be this way. Websites are still a foundational marketing element for businesses of all sizes.

HelloFresh Raises $88 Million As It Looks Toward IPO (VentureBeat)
HelloFresh, the Berlin-based company that delivers meal kits and recipes to subscribers, has reportedly raised another $88 million as the company continues its march toward a possible public offering.

Blackberry is Now a Self-Driving Car Company and Plans to Spend Like One (Quartz)
The company that hedged its bets on physical keyboards will now focus on two areas: AI that can assist a driver on the road (seen as a way to ramp toward increasingly autonomous systems) and building “connected cars.”

Rail Crossing Warnings Are Sought for Mapping Apps (New York Times)
The National Transportation Safety Board asked tech companies to add the locations of grade crossings into digital maps and to provide alerts for drivers.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]