Illinois state, Chicago sue Uber on data breach
Cyber Monday was on track to become the biggest-ever Internet shopping day in the United States as shoppers snapped up bargains on toys and electronics, with many more Americans shopping on their phones.
Adobe Analytics, a leading collector of e-commerce data, said Cyber Monday is expected to generate $6.6 billion in sales, up from $5.6 billion a year ago. As of 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), sales were up 16.8 percent to $3.38 billion. Revenue from smartphones jumped 41 percent over last year, Adobe said earlier in the day.
The buying frenzy has gone on for the better part of a week. Amazon.com. Inc. said it broke sales records this weekend and was on pace to do so on Cyber Monday, with 3 million toys sold halfway through the shopping event.
Thanksgiving and Black Friday, when shoppers spent $7.9 billion and bought more on their mobile devices than last year, had also generated record online sales.
This has brightened the overall outlook for traditional retailers that have expanded beyond brick-and-mortar outlets into e-commerce. However, the availability of deals and promotions throughout November hurt shopper traffic at stores.
Promotions during the weekend were largely uninspiring, Barclays analysts said in a note, adding that deeper discounts could continue into December rather than being concentrated on Cyber Monday.
Adobe collects the data by measuring 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 US retailers. Of every $10 spent at the top 500 US retailers, $7.50 goes through the Adobe sales platform.
Toys are expected to see the biggest discounts Monday followed by some deals on computers and televisions, Adobe said.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. started Cyber Monday deals at midnight on Monday and said it will bring back discounts from Black Friday that were popular with shoppers.
Wal-Mart is within striking distance of matching Amazon's online prices for
Uber Technologies, Inc. is facing mounting pressure from regulators and lawmakers over the year-old data breach it disclosed last week that affected some 57 million riders and drivers.
On Monday, Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a joint suit against the ride-hailing firm alleging consumer fraud and deceptive business practices, as well as violations of city code over its failure to disclose the breach, which exposed the personal information of drivers and riders. It is the first such suit by a government agency against Uber involving the hack.
Uber "brazenly attempted to conceal this information from the public," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement.
Also on Monday, several US senators – including the heads of the finance and commerce committees – wrote a letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi calling him to answer 11 questions related to the company's handling of the incident. "Our goal is to understand what steps Uber has taken to investigate what occurred, restore and maintain the integrity of its systems and identify and mitigate the potential consumer harm and identity theft-related fraud against federal programs," the senators wrote.
"We take this matter very seriously the first time, a key milestone in its effort to regain the "low price leader" title, data gathered for Reuters show.
Amazon shares closed up 0.8 percent, and we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have," an Uber spokesman said in a statement. "We are committed to changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make, and working hard to regain the trust of consumers."
Uber last week said it disclosed the hack – committed by two unnamed individuals more than a year ago under former CEO Travis Kalanick – after Mr. Khosrowshahi ordered an investigation led by outside cybersecurity firms. The San Francisco startup paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the data they obtained and to keep quiet about it, according to people familiar with the matter.
After Uber's announcement Tuesday, several state and foreign government agencies said last week they were inquiring about the company's handling of the incident. The Federal Trade Commission said it was "closely evaluating the serious issues raised," while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn) said on Twitter that the Senate Commerce Committee should hold a hearing to "demand Uber explain their outrageous breach – and inexplicable delay in informing its consumers and drivers."
Uber said last week it planned to cooperate with state attorney general offices and the FTC on the matter. (WSJ) while Wal-Mart and Target Corp shares were about flat. J.C. Penney Company, Inc. closed up 3 percent, and Macy's Inc. closed up 0.7 percent.