this is worklife from bbc news, with ben bland and david eades. the bumpy ride continues for uber. the ride—hailing app is getting more of our money than ever, but profits are still a long way off. live from london, that's our top story on friday 7 february. uber‘s business continues to grow, but so do its losses. the firm lost over $1 billion in the last three months of 2019. but still uber claims it will be profitable by the end of the year. plus — the latest on the coronavirus. iphone manufacturer foxconn is now

to start making surgical masks, in a bid to try and reopen its production lines making electronics. and from bath toy to big business, the unbelieveable story of how the humble rubber duck took over the world. and we'll be getting the inside track on the world of sonic branding and jingles. how do you identify a brand with a sound? it's often a few seconds of sound that has become big business. a bbc report has revealed dieters in the uk are being targeted by firms that ask you to place a bet on how much weight you might lose, and if you do, you win money. what do you think? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcworklife. hello and welcome to worklife. good to have you with us. we start with uber, because the bumpy ride continues for the taxi

and food delivery giant. its latest figures show another huge jump in revenues. it has promised to be profitable by the end of next year, but for now, it's still losing money. let's show you the details. uber made revenues of more than $4 billion in the last three months of 2019. that's a jump of 37% on the same time the previous year. but it's still losing money — a lot of it. it lost $1.1 billion dollars over the same period, it lost $1.1 billion over the same period, 24% more than a year ago. uber is spending heavily on its food delivery service uber eats as it tries to grab market share. investors are becoming more confident that uber is on the road to profitability. its shares have been recovering since november, but they are still trading well below the level of their stock market debut last

year — $112 a share. uber has also fallen foul of regulators around the world. last year, transport for london ruled the firm wasn't "fit and proper" to hold a taxi operator's licence, although it is still able to operate in the city while it appeals. plenty of bumps in the road. with us now is seth wallis—jones, principal research analyst, omdia. thank you forjoining us. can you explain first of all, given the litany of problems, there, what is it that is getting shareholders excited or encouraged? it that is getting shareholders excited or encouraged ?|j it that is getting shareholders excited or encouraged? i think the main thing is the statement by the ceo that they are not looking for costs a ny ceo that they are not looking for costs any more. for a long time, i think, tech stocks have really been valued on the idea that they have got this quite exuberant outlook, where they really think that they are going to be able to dominate an industry. it is all about spending

money to get market share to dominate that industry. that is something that uber has really bought into, and softbank, one of its key investors has pushed it wa nts to its key investors has pushed it wants to dominate every market it operates in. it seems that uber is a great idea facing mounting competition and also branching out with uber eats, and some people would say stick to what you are good at. and several other bits going on. one wonders whether if it is not spreading itself too thin, it is taking chances at least.|j spreading itself too thin, it is taking chances at least. i think pa rt taking chances at least. i think part of the plan for uber is really to have that sort of platform outlook. one of the key metrics for me is really to look at the monthly active users and that has increased to 111 million, now. the idea with thatis to 111 million, now. the idea with that is once you have got that kind of scale of users, you can start selling them other goods and services, so you selling them other goods and services, so you can selling them other goods and services, so you can integrate the eats app which is now part of the

main uberapp and eats app which is now part of the main uber app and you can start doing things like grocery deliveries as well, i think they have just acquired a company based in mexico called corner store, which is something similar apps are doing around the world, so if you look at around the world, so if you look at a company like zomato in india, they are branching into other different operations that they can feed off. something i want to get your thoughts on com the licence or uber to operate in london, big questions over that, it is subject to appeal, how problematic would that be for uber if they lost it as a market to operate in yellow obviously it is a very key market for them but also it is worth remembering that they operate in 70 cities around the world. i think the business operates —— the delivery business operates in 47 cities. 111 million, that is not that many users in that many countries, it is not that many for each country. obviously, london is a key market but it is a very

competitive market. if you look at the landscape for just competitive market. if you look at the landscape forjust london, it is massive. it is a fascinating journey, wherever it goes. thank you for joining journey, wherever it goes. thank you forjoining us. the problem for them is condition because now i look at two or three apps. because now i look at two or three apps, which is the cheapest and which will be the quickest, the condition. it makes it tough for them. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. warner music group, home to a host of stars including ed sheeran and katy perry, plans to sell shares in the us. billionaire sir len blavatnik bought the company for $3.3 billion in 2011, when the industry was in the depths of a multi—year slump. it's been estimated that company could now be worth around $6 billion. credit suisse boss tidjane thiam has resigned after over 20 years with the bank. the news follows a spying scandal at the bank, after former wealth management boss iqbal khan, who was heading to rival ubs, was followed by private contractors in a bid to establish

whether he was poaching colleagues and clients. thomas gottstein, the boss of the bank's home business in switzerland, will take over as chief executive. it's the new york times says profits jumped 24% in the last three months of 2019, taking earnings for the year to $140 million. chief executive mark thompson, a former bbc director general, said the times will be increasing the cost of digital subscription for the first time, from $15 to $17 a month. it added 342,000 new subscribers in the last quarter of 2019. macau is the world's capital for gambling, but casinos there are being asked to shut for 15 days to help stem the spread of coronavirus. sarah toms is in singapore. iiam i i am tempted to say, is nothing sacred? no, well, you could say that

casinos in macau are particularly down on their luck now that chinese officials have told them to close the doors of 41 casinos for two weeks, as you said, to stop the spread of coronavirus. macau is a chinese territory, very close to hong kong, and it is the world's biggest gambling hub, the industry is worth something like $36 billion. this will be the longest ever halt to operations. in fact, it is the only time in history that it has ever happened. this isjust only time in history that it has ever happened. this is just the latest blow to hit macau. the chinese territory gets 80% of its annual revenue from gambling and it is already reporting a fall in revenue for the past few months, as the virus has spread and china has imposed travel restrictions. of course, this is depriving macau of some of its biggest spending customers. this is just some of its biggest spending customers. this isjust the some of its biggest spending customers. this is just the latest evidence that the coronavirus is

hurting the chinese economy. in fa ct, hurting the chinese economy. in fact, alarm is growing to such an extent that the iphone maker foxconn has taken an unusual step of switching some of its production to making surgical masks. why are they doing that, you may ask. the outbreak has seen demand for masks soaring and caused a global shortage. so the electronics giant says it wants the masks, mainly to protect its own workers, but you never know, it might also provide some externally as well. 0k, thank you very much for that. let's check in on the markets. asian markets fell after a week—long rally. investors took profits and weighed up developments in china's coronavirus crisis. strong us data, chinese financial support and a broadly healthy earnings season have given a much—needed boost to equities after last week's sell—off. and there is a sense that the economic impact of the outbreak globally could be limited.

let's have a look at how europe is doing at the start of the friday session, taking its cue from asia, as you can see. traders keeping tabs on the release of some key us jobs data which is out later, giving a snapshot of the world's top economy. worth mentioning that oil has gained on hopes that key producers will unveil huge cuts to try to offset the impact of the coronavirus on oil demand in the key consumer, china. david. now to the us, where there's growing concern over the impact of the coronavirus on the car market. samira hussain has more from new york. as people worry about contracting the coronavirus, the american auto industry could take a hit. although very few passenger vehicles currently sold in the us are assembled in china, electric cars rely on batteries that are made in china. there has been a big push by the traditional car companies to get into the electric vehicle market, with auto—makers

making big investments. according to one study, among the auto—makers that will be most impacted by the coronavirus are volkswagen, honda and gm. general motors sells more cars in china than it does in the us, and the company was already reporting a slowdown in sales before the outbreak began. volkswagen sells approximately 40% of its vehicles in china. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining us is kate hardcastle, retail analyst at business consultancy, insight with passion. thank you forjoining us. . we are going to start with a story in the daily telegraph, steve dixon, who heads up the us federal aviation administration, talking about the boeing 737 max, and asking when is it going to come back into service. boeing giving hints which he was not too chuffed with. no, there's quite

a commitment to safety and rightly so. we know that boeing, as the investigation has gone on, there has been actually information that employees there in 2016 highlighted that they had concerns over the safety in terms of a vehicle and aircraft that has gone out and been involved in two accidents. a huge amount of people lost their lives and definitely, a brand that should not be bringing back a product to market that is not safe enough yet. interesting, they obviously have to secure confidence it again, don't they, and may be boeing are perhaps not the right people to do that because it is their product. steve dixon seems to be stepping into the breach of its top yes, there is a vested interest for them to get back to market because 60% of boeing's income comes from commercial aircraft. this is one of their most popular aircraft so you can understand the drive and ambition from an organisation which has been hit financially. but where we have got human lives and safety at gotham

organisations like the faa, and the european administration have got to be the right thing by the public. he says he's not going to let the plane up says he's not going to let the plane up in the air until he and his family have flown on it. his family on the flight as well, yes. let's look at this story from our website, weight loss wagerfirms, look at this story from our website, weight loss wager firms, you set a weight loss wager firms, you set a weight target and you win money if you hit it. it might be a good incentive to some but it could encourage really unhealthy and dangerous eating habits. encourage really unhealthy and dangerous eating habitsm encourage really unhealthy and dangerous eating habits. it is an incredibly concerning trend, with the rise of social media, it is very easy for businesses to target people who might be looking into healthy eating and trying to look after themselves and the idea that you set yourself a target, obviously, people wa nt to yourself a target, obviously, people want to keep to targets if there is a financial incentive. that said, if you start playing a game where you are basically betting against yourself and you are the one who is going to lose if you don't win the bet, it is highly risky in terms of the financial but also the pattern it might promote in the individual. is it going to create crash dieting? what pattern of eating? surely it

should be about healthy eating? i feel if you are going to do this, do it with your friends, get a group together and incentivise each other without this. i appreciate that and i see the risks but at the same time, if you have put on three or four kilos over christmas and stuff, and want to get rid of it quickly, it seems like quite a fun way to do it, doesn't it? it is a bit of fun if money is not involved in the point that you can lose the money. if you don't meet their targets... that is a flutter. may be so but they should be linked to enjoyment and not something in your mind. i find that successful healthy eating and exercise comes because you want to do it, not because you're incentivised by anything else. when you put yourself on the scales, it changes depending on where on the floor you put the scales, honestly, try it. if you don't like it... i'm going to use that, i normally blame my children but i will go for that, the scales being in the wrong place. just while we have got time from a grade one listed belted with a bit of beatles history. i love this, the

fa ct of beatles history. i love this, the fact is we have the pub, the first pub with grade one listed, if you see the pictures of it, it is beautifully ornate, all the different trends in there but a beautiful statement came from this, john lennon was asked what is the price of fame? he said not being able to have a point by himself in this pub, so go for the fact it is iconic that way. lovely pictures, really nice images. thank you for joining us. still to come, the world of sonic branding and jingles. how do you identify a brand with a sound? it is often a few seconds of sound that becomes big business. you're with worklife from bbc news. today's the last day of national apprenticeship week and today we're talking transport. bus and train operator go—ahead has announced that they're recruiting 1,200 new apprentices this year, a 20% increase on last yea r‘s number. and as well as bus

and train driving, they'll offer roles in everything from customer service to engineering. katy taylor is commercial and customer director of go—ahead. thank you forjoining us. 20% up is a bigjump. thank you forjoining us. 20% up is a big jump. it is, thank you forjoining us. 20% up is a bigjump. it is, it is testament to the success of the scheme so far. we have been really pleased with the number of people who have come through our apprenticeship programme. it has been great to get more diversity into both the bus and rail businesses. we have seen a massive increase in the number of women who have come through our doors, through the apprenticeship scheme, and people from bame backgrounds as well so that has been positive. positive and how important politically is it for you to do that? how non—divers do you feel at the moment? we are not doing it because it is politically the right thing to do, we are doing it because we have a cliff edge coming where a huge amount of our bus drivers are going to be retiring in a few years. we need to get new people into the business, younger people, tojoin us as bus and train drivers. in order

to do that, if we are not recruiting from a pool of 50% female, or a massive group of other people to come into the industry, then that is going to be every problem. we are doing it because it is the right thing to do for the business and we also know people who do come in, so the female drivers we have absolutely the female drivers we have a bsolutely love the female drivers we have absolutely love it and they really thrive. they find it is a job which fits well with their lives, we have a lot of single mums doing it and they really enjoy it and they go on to become driver trainers and mentors. we know it can work for the people from those back rows. the apprenticeships last two or three yea rs apprenticeships last two or three years in some cases. what is the kind of drop—off rate? that is quite a long time. it is but we find that people really enjoy that. what we do, especially on the bus driver apprenticeship programme, is we upscale people to the level of dc equivalent in english and maths and sometimes these are people who have not had those skills. so we are giving them life skills that help them in all areas of their life, not only work. so they stay in the programme and they enjoy it, we find retention rates after they finish

the programme are that much higher than before we had the apprenticeship programme. it is really working for us and our people. thank you forjoining us. on the business live web page, news of an energy price will in your bills. —— price full. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story — uber‘s business continues to grow, but so do its losses. the firm lost over a billion dollars in the last three months of 2019. now in this always—connected world of social media and smartphones, our attention spans seem to be getting shorter. that's why brands want to engage us in any way possible, and ears are a good place to start. this is where sonic branding comes in. it's simply the use of audio by businesses to create a signature sound that reinforces their brands identity. it's now a thriving market and our next guest, dave connolly,

is taking advantage of it. his firm, molecular sounds, makes these unique sounds for companies. he is here with us right now, composer and owner of the firm. good to see you. how do you come up with a sound that will stick with people? that is a really good question. i think you often have three seconds to really capture someone's attention. the main thing is to try to understand what the brand represents. from a visual point of view, that is quite easy, you know, but from a sound, i am always kind of thinking about potentially having a strong hook, so it might be a melody. i think people refer to them nowadays as ea rworms melody. i think people refer to them nowadays as earworms and you kind of hear them in pop songs, but you really have such a short time in a sonic logo to do that. there's lots of different ways to do it. but it really depends on the client. you talk about earworms, what do you think about nokia's earlier mobile

phone sound, for example, everybody just recognised it for what it was, it was iconic for what it was. but how much of a push is there from brands to say, we want to feel warm and cuddly over here but also decisive and driven over there? you put that together. i mean, that is the power of music, it really has an emotional impact on people. a good thing is, netflix and hbo, as soon as you hear those sounds, you think about what is going to come next come off on the show is that you like to watch. music can kind of elevate your emotions. i think that is white can be so powerful. but the thing is, it is hard to gauge how different people will react to different people will react to different sounds. for me, there was one message alert tone that used to drive me crazy. i'm not hearing it as much now, but it was the wittily

one and it would drive me insane. —— the whittling one. for other people, it was music to various. it is all subjective which can be tricky when you are working with a client, but i think that is the kind of art that you have to do... it has to be memorable but it can't be too annoying in public life. i think as time goes on and there is a lot of research now that goes into these things, you are always thinking about those things. and what is the best one you have worked on? the best one you have worked on? the best one, well, i wrote the theme for newsround which was quite fun. let's have a listen. we are still here, don't worry! it is almost morse code banging away on the back. yes, and that was kind of the back. yes, and that was kind of the older newsround sound had those kind of sounds on it so i wanted to reflect that. but from a sonic branding point of view, newsround is

on the internet, it is on smartphones, so we were trying to think of a way to keep the news feel at trying to take it into the 21st century. can ijust ask at trying to take it into the 21st century. can i just ask your question, you are a composer, you have clearly got the artistic bent and ability. you have created a business and it is a growing business. how easy has it been for you? it is tricky, my background was a songwriter, so i was not really from a business background. it has been a huge learning curve for me. i am always thinking about the creative ideas but as time goes on, i think musicians are businesses, as armbands, ithink i think musicians are businesses, as armbands, i think they are starting to look at themselves that way. —— as our bands. do you recognise yourself that way or have you had much help? i haven't really come it has been a long journey, i started in my bedroom, writing music. yeah, i have had help along the way but it is something that we don't often

think about as creative people, the kind of business side. so i always try and encourage musicians to think about that. are excellent and good luck to you. thank you forjoining us. in a moment, we'll run through some viewer responses to our twitter question. but first, there's one in the bathroom of everyone who has children, or a sense of humour. but who first had the idea of turning our baths into miniature ponds for wildfowl? aaron heslehurst explains. hey! yeah, it's the rubber duck. quack—quack. this little thing has made bath time fun for over 70 years. the first one to float was designed in 1947 by this bloke right here, russian—american sculptor, peter ganine. the ones before his had been solid and guess what? they sank. but peter's ducks were so popular, he sold over 50 million of them. sales of these really

soared in the 1970s, when the us kids' show sesame street came up with the song rubber ducky. and here in britain in 2001, sales of these soared 80%. why? well, it was revealed the queen... she had a rubber duck with a crown on its head. then there was the episode when 29,000 little duckies fell off a cargo ship in the pacific ocean. scientists later found them washed up as far away as south america and england. and that gave them the best idea yet of how the ocean currents work. so here's a question, which is the world's biggest rubber duck? well, it's this one right here, made by the dutch artist florentijn hofman. oh, it's big, all right, yeah. it weighs 600 kilograms. oh, and it's been on tour all around the world. now that's quackers. at the top of the show, we asked you about apps that let people gamble on their weight loss.

goodidea good idea or bad idea? let's see how some of you have responded. pretty clear message, there. dennis is not far off. and ella says... i thought it was quite a good idea soiam i thought it was quite a good idea so i am clearly missing the mood of the nation perhaps. i've got a couple more, joanne says she does not agree with the idea because it could have disastrous ramifications. eating disorders are still on the rise and this won't help. healthy life choices, mental well—being and less pressure a re life choices, mental well—being and less pressure are far better places to start. a friend of mine i was talking to yesterday said in his workplace, they have a weight machine and he was having a great day, went and stored on it and it ruined his afternoon! that is the risk, he could have put a bet on it. either way, that is it from us for

the day. more business news of course throughout the day on bbc live's web page and on world business report. have a great weekend. we will see you soon. good morning. it has been relatively quiet weather—wise over the last few days but that is set to change as we go into the weekend. today we will start to notice the wind picking up in western areas, gusts of 50—60 mph. into saturday, scotland and northern ireland will see some strengthening wind, 60—70 mph gusts but it is sunday that sterling is going to move its way in, widely across the uk. —— storm ciara is going to move its way in. really high gusts, potentially 80 mph in places. today, sunshine for many of us, some fog this morning across eastern areas which will clear up. sunny spells for england and wales and up into scotland, a bit more cloud moving into northern ireland.

a few spots of rain by the end of the day. maximum temperatures, 5—9dc but the wins will strengthen across the west of scotland and across northern ireland. tonight, winds picking up elsewhere across the uk. patchy rain moving its way eastwards into saturday morning. not as cold as last night. temperatures are staying up at about 4—10dc. saturday morning, we start with a bit of cloud, perhaps some rain in the far south—east of england but it is throughout the day, as we go through the weekend, with storm ciara moving m, the weekend, with storm ciara moving in, likely to see some damaging and destructive winds, there may well be some power cuts as well —— damaging and disruptive wins. well worth staying due to the forecast. bit of rain in the east on saturday but then through the north—west, we will see more significant rain moving its way in with some snow in the higher ground. for much of england and wales during saturday, there will be some sunshine. sunshine two for eastern scotland. gail is developing across western scotland and northern

ireland as the heavy rain moves in. some snow over the higher ground. maximum temperatures, eight or nine celsius. into sunday, this is a steal. it is going to develop even further as it moves closer to the uk. look at the white lines, the isobar is really quite close together across the uk. while we will have some very heavy rainfall moving its way south and east, the focus of some of the strongest wind may well be on the gulf front as it moves south and east. also towards central and southern scotland, to the south of that area of low pressure. but these are the expected gusts during sunday, widespread 60-70 gusts during sunday, widespread 60—70 mph gusts of wind, potentially up 60—70 mph gusts of wind, potentially up to 80 mph, and as i mentioned, those are damaging and disruptive. stay tuned to the forecast. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh — the headlines a british national is confirmed as one of 61 cruise ship passengers who have caught coronavirus. the ships moored offjapan with almost 4,000 on board. literally every hour something is changing, the biggest being 41 additional passengers being found positive tested for the coronavirus. the teenager who threw a young boy off a balcony in london — regulators investigatie whether warnings were missed prince andrew is deferring an honorary military promotion, which he was due to receive later this month. energy bills set to fall — after regulator ofgem lowers caps on prices.