Facebook Wants Retailers to Sell Inside Its ‘Marketplace’

(Recode)

The ‘Marketplace’ section of the Facebook app is a bit of a head scratcher. The Craigslist competitor has prime real estate inside the app but is littered with random stuff that often seems overpriced. But Facebook is planning to professionalize it, a Facebook executive told Recode. That could mean local automobile dealerships posting cars for sale or ticket sellers hawking concerts. Facebook long has pined to get different forms of commerce onto the social network, and it has rarely worked in a big way. The upside is big, of course, for the ads business. Not only would Facebook be able to charge for higher placement for products, a la Google, but it would get more data on what its users are actually purchasing, making ads across the social network more valuable. —Cory

Kalanick Response to Benchmark Lawsuit: No ‘Consideration’

(The Information)

Travis Kalanick is no dummy. In June, when Uber investor Benchmark pressured Kalanick to step down as Uber CEO or face a public campaign by investors to remove him, he got Benchmark to remove language from his resignation letter that stated it was a contract and Kalanick received “consideration"—or something in return—for stepping down. The letter is at the heart of the conflict between Benchmark and Kalanick because in it, Kalanick promised to relinquish his ability to unilaterally appoint two new directors to the board. He has reneged on that promise and, in a filing Thursday night, said the letter isn’t binding. (He may be right.) That’s why, he says, Benchmark is resorting to claiming Kalanick last year duped shareholders into giving him the right to name those directors. Right now, in this fight, Kalanick appears to have the upper hand. –Amir

• Related: Kalanick Believes He Still Has Right to Appoint New Uber Directors