New York Post - USA (2020-12-03)

New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020

nypost.com

Amazon said Wednesday
that five companies, includ-
ing Uber and JetBlue, have
joined its Climate Pledge, a
commitment to be net-zero
carbon by 2040.
CEO Jeff Bezos last year
pledged to make the largest
US e-commerce company
net carbon-neutral by 2040.
The other three companies
to join are: Rivian, Cabify and
Boom Supersonic. So far, 18
companies have signed up
for the pledge, which was
established in 2019. Reuters

Uber, JetBlue

in carbon vow

Uber shares spiked al-
most 7 percent Wednesday
after reports emerged that
the company was looking
into selling its flying taxi
business.
The ride-hail giant is in ad-
vanced talks to sell Uber Ele-
vate to aerospace firm Joby
Aviation, Axios reported,
with news of the talks com-
ing as Uber is already looking
to cut back on cash burn as
the COVID-19 pandemic has
pummeled its core business.
Uber Elevate is the San
Francisco-based company’s
division dedicated to aerial
pursuits, and has been devel-
oping a flying taxi prototype.
Uber did not respond to a
request for comment. It is un-
clear if the sale would impact
Uber Copter, the company’s
helicopter service from
lower Manhattan to JFK.
Shares of Uber finished up
$3.46 Wednesday to close at
$53.09.
Earlier this month Uber
was revealed to be in talks to
sell its Advance Technolo-
gies Group — which focuses
on autonomous vehicle tech-
nology — to self-driving car
startup Aurora.
Nicolas Vega

Uber flie$

on air taxi

sale news

Uber Air TAxi

Aerospace buyer eyed.

Discovery is launching a

new streaming service, called

discovery+, and has a US dis-

tribution deal with Verizon

Communications that will

make it available to 50 million

customers on day one, fol-

lowing Disney’s lead.

Discovery+ will be availa-

ble on Jan. 4 in the United

States and have 55,000 epi-

sodes from channels in the

Discovery portfolio, which

includes HGTV, Food Net-

work and Animal Planet.

The service will be free for

up to 12 months for new and

existing Verizon customers,

depending on their plan. Peo-

ple who are ineligible for the

free trial can subscribe for

$4.99 per month with ads, or

$6.99 per month ad-free.

Verizon played a role in the

success of Walt Disney’s Dis-

ney+ streaming service by

making it available to mil-

lions of wireless customers.

The service launched in No-

vember 2019 and had 73.7

million subscribers a year

later. Disney has not dis-

closed how many of those

subscribers paid for the ser-

vice or received it free

through Verizon.

The discovery+ launch

comes as COVID-19-related

restrictions have kept people

home, fueling streaming-sub-

scriber growth. More than

half of US households now

subscribe to multiple stream-

ing services, according to a

study from Leichtman Re-

search Group. Discovery’s

challenge is to be counted

among one of them.

Discovery+ has already

launched in India, the UK

and Ireland. Reuters

Coming soon: Discovery+

Bitcoin rewards card

Visa, Evolve Bank and

credit card firm Deserve are

partnering with cryptocur-

rency startup BlockFi to offer

a credit card that lets users

earn bitcoin on purchases.

Card users will receive 1.5

percent cash back on an ac-

crual basis for every transac-

tion made on the card, which

will then be converted to bit-

coin and placed monthly into

a BlockFi account. The ser-

vice will initially be offered

only in the US and the ship-

ping of cards will start in

spring 2021, BlockFi said

Tuesday in a blog post.

The move comes after Pay-

Pal in October said it would

allow customers to hold bit-

coin and other virtual coins

in its online wallet and shop

using cryptocurrencies, a

move that could help bitcoin

and rival cryptocurrencies

gain wider acceptance.

Bitcoin surged about 160

percent this year on demand

for riskier assets amid un-

precedented fiscal and mon-

etary stimulus, interest in as-

sets perceived as inflation-re-

sistant and a belief that cryp-

tocurrencies will win main-

stream acceptance. Reuters

By Nicolas Vega

SpaceX may have only just put

humans into space for the first time,

but that isn’t stopping CEO Elon

Musk from making bold new prom-

ises.

The billionaire Tesla executive on

Tuesday said that he is “highly con-

fident” that SpaceX will be able to

send humans to Mars by 2026, if not

earlier.

Speaking at an Axel Springer

event in Berlin, Musk didn’t hedge

his ambitions to put a man on the

Red Planet.

“We want to send an uncrewed

vehicle there in two years,” Musk

said. “I think if you said [we’ll put a

human on Mars] six years from

now, I’d say I’m highly confident,

and if we get lucky maybe four

years.”

The world’s second-richest man,

behind only Amazon CEO and fel-

low rocket-company owner Jeff Be-

zos, said one of his main concerns is

developing the technology neces-

sary to make human life “multiplan-

etary,” saying he wanted to see a

base on the moon and “a city on

Mars.”

“I think it’s important that we

strive to have a self-sustaining city

on Mars as soon as possible. I’m op-

timistic about the future on Earth,

but I think it’s important to have life

insurance for life as a whole.”

Musk first unveiled his plans to

colonize Mars in 2016. Two years

later, he said there was a “70-per-

cent chance” he would move to

Mars but also admitted there was a

“good chance” he could die on his

way there.

The closest Musk has gotten to

sending a person to Mars so far is

the cherry-red Tesla Roadster he

launched into space back in 2018,

which recently completed a flyby of

the planet.

[email protected]

get reDDy

for man

on mars

By 2026, Elon vows

Post photo composite/NASA//Alamy images

OUT TO

LAUNCH:

Elon Musk

is “highly

confident”

his SpaceX will

send people to

Mars in 2026,

maybe sooner.