Daily Tech Snippet: Tuesday, August 9

• India ride-hailing firm Ola sideswiped as Uber, Didi team up in China: Didi Chuxing's acquisition of Uber's China business last week reshapes the landscape in Asia's growing ride-hailing sector, and leaves India's Ola more vulnerable to attack by Uber in its $12 billion home market. Four months ago, Ola executives met with Didi hoping the Chinese firm would invest fresh capital to help it fight Uber Technologies Inc which, with its deeper pockets, has made rapid inroads into India. They were told Didi wanted first to sort out its own challenges in China, said a person with direct knowledge of Ola's plans. Didi and Uber have raised and spent billions of dollars in a discount slugfest to win drivers, passengers and market share in China. Didi, now worth around $35 billion, last year invested about $30 million in Ola, which is also backed by Japan's SoftBank Group, and the two are allies in an anti-Uber group that also includes U.S.-based Lyft and Southeast Asia-focused Grab. "This (Didi/Uber China) deal changes the dynamics of how they (Didi) will invest in India," said the person, who didn't want to be named because the discussions were private. If Didi invests more in Ola, it's effectively betting against Uber, its new partner in China, the person said. It's not clear whether Didi would provide equity or debt to Ola, which has raised around $1.3 billion in funding and is valued at over $5 billion. SoftBank Capital, Ola's key investor, faces its own financial issues and is selling assets to raise cash and reduce debt, which may pose another fundraising challenge for Ola, which was aiming to raise another $1 billion this year.After the Didi deal, Uber is even more focused on India, which it has previously called its No. 2 priority overseas market, doubling down on resources, staffing and technology deployed there, said two people familiar with Uber's plans, one of whom is based in the United States.

• Twitter Seeks to Sublease Part of San Francisco Headquarters: Twitter Inc. is offering about a quarter of the space at its San Francisco headquarters complex for sublease, adding to a growing amount of excess offices available in the city as the technology industry cools. About 78,800 square feet (7,320 square meters) is listed for sublease on the seventh floor of 1355 Market St., a renovated 1930s furniture mart, and 104,850 square feet is available along three floors in an adjacent building at One Tenth St., according to marketing materials from Cresa, a commercial real estate firm.Subleasing is becoming more prevalent in San Francisco as venture-capital investments decline and tech firms slow their hiring from a breakneck pace. While the city’s overall office market remains strong, extra space is a warning sign that some companies overestimated their growth rate and are being forced to scale back. An increase in subleasing predated commercial real estate downturns following the 2008 financial crisis and the dot-com bust in the late 1990s.

• Walmart was the only bidder in $3 billion Jet.com acquisition: When news first broke of Walmart’s interest in acquiring Jet.com, the $3 billion price tag was a surprise to many. Why would Walmart pay such a premium for a startup that was unprofitable and just a year old? One hypothesis was that Walmart may have been competing against other bidders for Jet — possibly Alibaba or even Google. Turns out that was not the case, Jet CEO Marc Lore told Recode in an interview Monday afternoon. “This was about trust between Doug and I,” Lore said in reference to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, noting that the conversations between the two sides began in the spring. “It never occurred to me to go out and get another offer, quite honestly,” he added.  As part of the deal, Lore will take over as head of Walmart.com in addition to Jet, as Recode first reportedSunday evening. Neil Ashe, Walmart’s CEO of global e-commerce, will depart at the end of Walmart’s fiscal year. In a conference call with reporters, McMillon outlined why Walmart found Jet so valuable. It was a combination of the speed of the shopping site’s growth (a $1 billion annualized sales volume run rate within eight months of launch); the expertise of the exec team led by Lore that is joining Walmart in the deal; and the proprietary pricing and back-end technology that is expected to eventually be used in some capacity on Walmart.com.

• LendingClub turmoil takes toll as company posts widening losses: LendingClub Corp on Monday reported its largest quarterly loss in a year as it struggles to bring banks back to its online lending platform following the departure of its chief executive and a scandal involving altered loan documents. LendingClub, which matches borrowers and lenders via an online marketplace, reported a second-quarter loss of $81.4 million, or 21 cents per share, compared to a loss of $4.1 million, or 1 cent per share, a year ago. The company also continued its executive shakeup, with the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Carrie Dolan. Her departure is the first high-profile exit since the departure of Renaud Laplanche, the company's founder, as chief executive on May 9.The second-quarter earnings report follows a tumultuous period for LendingClub, once considered the standard bearer in a new generation of online lenders but which has been pummeled by revelations of lending improprieties, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, the departure of loan investors and layoffs of 179 employees. "The good thing is (the second quarter) is now behind us," said Scott Sanborn, who took over as president and CEO in June. "We have accomplished quite a bit since the events of May 9." LendingClub's shares were down more than 2 percent at about $4.68 in after-hours trading. That puts the company's market cap at about $1.8 billion, about one-third its market value of about $5.4 billion when it went public in December 2014 in an offering priced at $15 a share.