The Great Billionaire Ride-Hailing Swap
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The future of the ride-hailing industry depends on the capricious largesse of two internet billionaires on opposite sides of the globe. Alphabet Inc., led by Larry Page, just backed Lyft Inc., while SoftBank Group Corp. chief Masayoshi Son is set to take a big stake in larger rival Uber Technologies Inc.
Alphabet unit CapitalG led a $1 billion investment in Lyft on Thursday that valued the No. 2 U.S. ride-hailing company at $11 billion. SoftBank is expected to put a fresh $1 billion into Uber, and spend billions more buying shares from existing investors.