Daily Tech Snippet: Friday, January 13

• Lyft Loses $600 Million in 2016 as Revenue Surges: U.S. ride-hailing startup is said to generate revenue of $700 million last year. Lyft Inc., the second-largest ride-hailing startup in the U.S. behind Uber Technologies Inc., lost about $600 million last year while increasing revenue 250 percent, according to people familiar with the matter. In 2016, Lyft generated about $700 million in sales, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the financials are private. The San Francisco company's revenue growth far exceeded its 46 percent increase in losses. Lyft appears to have kept a promise it made to investors last year that monthly losses wouldn't exceed $50 million. The company aims to become profitable by 2018, the people said.

• Amazon to add more than 100,000 jobs in U.S. hiring spree: Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it will create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States, from software development to warehouse work, in its latest move to win over shoppers by investing in faster delivery. The world's largest online retailer will grow its full-time U.S. workforce by more than 50 percent to over 280,000 in the next 18 months, it said in a press release. Amazon is spending heavily on new warehouses so it can stock goods closer to customers and fulfill orders quickly and cheaply. The new hires, from Florida to Texas and California, will be key to the company's promise of two-day shipping to members of its Amazon Prime shopping club, which has given it an edge over rivals. At least 16 new U.S. fulfillment centers are in the works for this year and next, said Marc Wulfraat, president of logistics consultancy MWPVL International Inc. Some mark Amazon's first expansion into population centers like Houston, he said.

• China's anti-Teslas: cheap models drive electric car boom: More electric cars are sold in China than in the rest of the world combined, but are mainly locally-branded models that are cheaper and have a shorter range than those offered by foreign automakers such as Tesla  and Nissan. The Chinese-branded electric vehicle (EV) market is propped up by huge government subsidies as part of Beijing's policy to build global leadership in cleaner energy driving. China has spent billions of dollars on subsidies to help companies including Warren Buffett-backed BYD  and BAIC Motor achieve large-scale production of plug-in vehicles, which are gaining traction among urban drivers as well as taxi fleets and government agencies. Sales of battery electric and plug-in hybrids increased 60 percent in January-November, to 402,000 vehicles. By 2020, China wants 5 million plug-in cars on its roads.  The domestic EVs don't have the 'wow' factor of a fast, longer-range and luxury-style Tesla. They sell on price. Some EV buyers in Beijing and Shanghai said they primarily bought plug-in vehicles to easily get a license plate. Half a dozen of China's biggest cities tightly control license plates for traditional gasoline cars, but freely award plates that can only be used by plug-in vehicles.