The wheels fall off Deliveroo

The delivery business looks to be under further strain after Deliveroo departed Australia this week. Elsewhere Airbnb’s co-founder is moving into tiny homes while TikTok starts to emerge as the biggest winner in a downsizing tech industry. These were the five big stories of the week.

1. No delivery

Deliveroo has become the latest casualty of slowing growth and higher interest rates, bowing out of the Australian market this week.

The food delivery service has left 15,000 workers – and thousands of restaurants – in limbo after immediately shutting shop on Wednesday.

What does it mean? Well listed entities like Uber, Doordash and others will most likely absorb market share in the short term.

But the sudden exit also casts fresh doubts on the sustainability of the business model, amid huge pressure on fast delivery rivals.

2. Tiny houses

Airbnb convinced you to live in strangers’ houses. Now its co-founder wants you to move into their backyard.

Joe Gebbia’s latest venture Samara is building tiny homes behind people’s ‘big’ homes in a bid to fix America’s housing crisis. 

It’s ironic when you consider Airbnb is blamed at least in part for exacerbating that crisis, but here we are.

3. Big name

Tom Ford has become a billionaire after Estée Lauder (NASDAQ:EL) wrote out a US$2.8 billion cheque for his luxury brand. 

The acquisition, EL’s largest to date, comes as the luxury market is forecast to grow at 21% despite an economic downturn.

4. Yours is mine

The world’s fourth richest man Jeff Bezos has vaguely pledged to give away his fortune before he dies – something his ex-wife happens to excel at.

The news came as Amazon announced 10,000 layoffs. Critics countered that Bezos could have started with fixing ‘awful’ work conditions there.

5. Winners & losers

You might have asked yourself where all these recently laid off tech workers are going. Well, for many, the answer is TikTok.

The viral video platform is scooping up much of Silicon Valley’s talent pool right now, doubling its headcount at a time when everyone else is slashing theirs.