Uber raises $1.6 billion in Goldman Sachs deal

Popular ride-hailing app Uber has raised $1.6 billion in a deal with Goldman Sachs wealth management clients.

Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Andrea Raphael says the financing comes in the form of a bond that can later be converted into stock when Uber goes public. Goldman says the deal completed a few days ago is one of the largest private convertible debt offerings on record.

Last month, San Francisco-based Uber raised $1.2 billion in financing that valued the company at $40 billion. That puts it in the ballpark of public companies such as DirecTV and Kraft Foods.

Google planning to sell wireless phone service

Google is planning to sell wireless phone service directly to customers using the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile.

That’s according to reports Wednesday in the technology news site The Information and The Wall Street Journal. They cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Representatives from Google Inc., Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. declined to comment on the reports.

According to the Journal, Google will resell service on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks. It said it wasn’t clear how widely Google plans to offer the service, what it will cost or when it will launch.

Google is looking for ways to get more people online to do searches and watch YouTube videos, possibly by offering more affordable wireless data plans.

American Express to trim 4,000 jobs for efficiency

American Express said Wednesday it plans to cut more than 4,000 jobs this year, about 6 percent of its total workforce.

The New York-based charge card company said the cuts are part of a companywide efficiency drive. The announcement came as it reported an 11 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.

The cuts will span the company’s U.S. and international operations and will take place over the course of the year.

The company will take a $313 million pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter, partly as a result of the cuts.

— From news service reports