Jun 21, 2017 - Technology

TPG Capital's David Trujillo to join Uber's board

Jeff Chiu / AP

TPG Capital and Uber have finally agreed on a new board member for the ride-hailing company: partner David Trujillo, as Bloomberg and first reported and Axios has also confirmed from a source.

Last Tuesday, TPG Capital chairman and founding partner David Bonderman resigned from Uber's board after he made a sexist remark toward fellow board member Arianna Huffington during a company meeting. As Axios pointed out then, Trujillo was the most obvious replacement as he brokered TPG's original investment in Uber.

Axios has also learned that TPG Capital was aware of the letter a group of investors planned to send to CEO Travis Kalanick asking for his resignation. Though the firm declined to participate in order to maintain its independence, it did feel the company's leadership needed a change, and Kalanick's eventual resignation accelerated TPG Capital's move to fill its board seat.

The story has been updated to reflect that Bloomberg first reported the news.

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Ashley Gold

49 mins ago - Technology

Congress' next moves to rein in Big Tech

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

After grilling the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple last week, members of Congress are grappling with whether to accuse any of the firms of illegal anticompetitive behavior, to propose updating federal antitrust laws — or both.

The big picture: Congress is just one arm of government making the case against these companies. Google is expected to be the first of the firms to face possible antitrust litigation from the Justice Department before summer's end, but all four face a full-court press of investigations by DOJ, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.

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Eileen Drage O'Reilly

1 hour ago - Health

Fauci: Coronavirus task force to examine aerosolized spread

A sneeze. Photo: Maartje van Caspel/Getty Images

The White House coronavirus task force will examine more closely just how much SARS-CoV-2 might be transmitted via aerosols, and not just from droplets, NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Wednesday at an online forum sponsored by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Why it matters: The longer the coronavirus can remain infectious in the air, the more likely it can infect people, particularly indoors — leading to the possible need to alter air filtration and circulation within buildings.

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Dion Rabouin, Kim Hart

1 hour ago - Economy & Business

The next wave to hit Main Street

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Call it the great retail wash. A wave of defaults, bankruptcies and evictions expected in cities across the U.S. is poised to remake the retail landscape across the country, but there may be some upside for consumers and small businesses.

Why it matters: Rather than an overnight descent into a collection of urban wastelands full of Starbucks, Amazon fulfillment centers, Chase bank branches and nothing else, the coronavirus pandemic and resulting retail apocalypse may just mean that, in major U.S. cities, less is more.