HBO (NYSE:T) is responding to the burst in video streaming by offering free access to a number of high-profile series, along with documentaries and other movies.
Using the catchphrase “Stay Home Box Office,” the streamer is allowing U.S. viewers without subscriptions to use HBO Now or HBO Go to stream shows including The Sopranos, The Wire, True Blood, Veep, Six Feet Under, Silicon Valley, Succession, Barry and Ballers.
Free documentaries include The Inventor, The Case Against Adnan Syed and McMillions, while it also points to movies including Isn’t It Romantic, The Lego Movie 2 and Detective Pikachu.
The offer starts tomorrow and could bring some goodwill ahead of a still-planned spring launch for HBO Max.
The value of passenger fares for Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) has plummeted in recent weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Information sources.
Uber could take a softer blow since it’s paying drivers a lower share of fares than it did last year.
The company’s revenue from passenger rides (minus driver pay) could total under $450M/month, down from the $800M/month in last year’s Q1.
Lyft’s passenger revenue will likely come in below $150M/month, down from $260M/month.
Uber can at least lean on Eats, which has global bookings growth of more than 50%.
China’s 58.com (NYSE:WUBA) has received a preliminary, nonbinding proposal from Ocean Link Partners to acquire the company.
The offer comes at $27.50 cash per Class A or Class B ordinary share, or $55 cash per ADS. That’s a near-18% premium to yesterday’s ADS closing price on NYSE.
Ocean Link plans to fund the transaction with its equity capital and that of any additional members it accepts into a consortium, and possibly debt capital.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has hired 80,000 people since its March 16 pledge to bring on 100,000 new employees.
The company says that it expects to go “well beyond” the initial $350M commitment to additional pay.
Coronavirus safety: Amazon is implementing new measures, including daily temperature checks for employees in the U.S. and Europe and distributing millions of masks to teams. The company will donate any N-95 masks to healthcare workers or selling them at cost to healthcare or government organizations.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX cites “significant privacy and security concerns” for the Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) ban, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters.
NASA tells Reuters that it has also banned employee use of Zoom.
Earlier this week, The Intercept reported that Zoom videos don’t offer end-to-end encryption, contrary to the company’s claims.
Last week, Motherboard reported that Zoom’s iOS app sent user data to Facebook without user consent. Zoom later updated the app to remove FB’s SDK.
New York’s attorney general is currently looking into Zoom’s privacy practices.
Zoom shares are down 4.7% pre-market to $130.53.
