Today In Payments: Uber To Buy Postmates; Amazon Plans To Expand Grocery Stores Across US

In today’s top news, Uber has agreed to buy Postmates for $2.6 billion in stock, and Amazon is planning to expand its Amazon Go grocery stores in several cities. Plus, it’s been revealed that Wirecard’s business has been losing cash for years.

Uber-Postmates Deal Shows Food Delivery Is Consolidating Like Pac-Man

Uber Technologies agreed on Monday (July 6) to purchase delivery firm Postmates Inc. in an all-stock deal worth $2.65 billion. The acquisition could make the food delivery service profitable. Postmates brings more than just food delivery to Uber; the startup also offers a wide array of delivery-as-a-service options.

Amazon Plans to Expand Grocery Stores Across the US

A new Amazon Go grocery store will soon open in Bellevue, Washington, and the tech giant has further plans to expand its cashierless Amazon Go grocery stores in Seattle, California, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Audit: Wirecard Payments, Issuing Businesses Have Been Bleeding Cash for Years

Wirecard AG’s operating performance in Europe and the Americas was far worse than previously known, according to a report from KPMG, the Netherlands-based global accounting firm, which was obtained by the newspaper. While the rest of the company’s divisions have been touted as highly profitable, it now appears to be just a show, the report found.

India eCommerce Proposal Would Force Big Tech to Hand Over Its Source Codes, Algorithms

India’s new competition policy dictates that an eCommerce regulator be appointed to oversee the industry, making sure competition is active and that everyone has access to the same set of information and resources. The rules would also require that the government have access to online companies’ sources and algorithms.

The Vicious Circle of Physical Retail Meets the Virtuous Circle of Digital

Karen Webster says that the clash between the vicious circle of physical retail and the virtuous circle of digital has suddenly taken center stage, with a future that seems more and more likely to accelerate the growth of digital and the decline of physical. Here’s why.

It Takes a Village to Build an Instant-Payments Ecosystem

The COVID-19 pandemic and the move to digital commerce it has spawned is giving fresh impetus to the idea that payments must move from payer to payee in real time. But experts tell Karen Webster in our latest On the Agenda roundtable that the key to making that happen is bigger than any one player.

What Q1 and Q2 Are Telling Us About the Rest of 2020

We’re halfway through 2020, and what a long, strange trip it’s been so far. Unfortunately, recent Business Roundtable figures point to more rough sledding ahead — particularly for retail, travel and dining. We break it all down.