Futuristic air-taxi firm Joby expands NYC, global footprint with $125M deal as it nears fed certification for passengers
The Santa Cruz, California-based firm agreed Monday to buy Blade Air Mobility's passenger business after successfully carrying up to 50,000 people on helicopter and plane demonstration flights from a dozen terminals globally — with infrastructure already in place in the Big Apple, Europe and Dubai.
'With access to the infrastructure they have secured and the loyal customer base they have developed, we will be in the best possible position to launch our quiet, electric aircraft as soon as certification is secured,' Joby Aviation CEO and founder JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement.
5 The aerospace company rolled out a prototype to display in Grand Central Station, giving a glimpse of the craft that could soar New Yorkers above clogged roads and crowded subways.
scott rounds
The aerospace company rolled out a prototype to display in Grand Central Station, giving a glimpse of the craft that could soar New Yorkers above clogged roads and crowded subways from lower Manhattan to catch a departing flight at JFK Airport in under seven minutes.
Blade will add terminal spaces at JFK and Newark Liberty Airport to Joby's infrastructure, in addition to other bases for takeoff and landing on the East Side and West Side of Manhattan as well as Wall Street.
President Trump had signed an executive order in June launching a pilot program for air taxis, also known as eVTOLs, that spurred Joby and other firms to seek federal certifications for flying passengers commercially.
5 'With access to the infrastructure they have secured and the loyal customer base they have developed, we will be in the best possible position to launch our quiet, electric aircraft as soon as certification is secured,' said Joby Aviation CEO And founder JoeBen Bevirt in a statement.
Getty Images for Reindustrialize Conference
With the new acquisition, Joby is in a better position to begin rolling out its own commercial flights next year and eventually make commuting like 'The Jetsons' in the vertical-takeoff aircraft a feature of everyday life.
As of June, the electric air taxi firm reached 80% compliance in the final stage of its certification process with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after having secured hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in recent years from companies including Uber, Toyota and Delta.
That included an exclusive partnership that will let passengers book flights around town from the ride-sharing platform's app — now with the addition of the Blade app following Monday's agreement.
5 'It's crystal clear from their progress on certification to the successful demonstration flights in New York and Dubai that this is the best possible home for our fliers, our team and our partner,' said Rob Wiesenthal, Blade's CEO.
Other leading eVTOL makers include Beta Technologies and Archer Aviation.
'It's crystal clear from their progress on certification to the successful demonstration flights in New York and Dubai that this is the best possible home for our fliers, our team and our partner,' said Rob Wiesenthal, Blade's CEO, who will remain in charge of the passenger business at Joby.
As part of the agreement, which will be finalized in the coming weeks, the New York-based company will restructure its medical transport division — one of the largest transporters of human organs for procedures — as Strata Critical Medical, a separate, publicly traded company chaired by Wiesenthal.
5 The deal will allow Joby aircraft to be the preferred partner for its medical missions, which accounted for the majority of Blade's revenue.
'Blade's mission since inception has been to accelerate the transition from traditional rotorcraft to electric aircraft,' he said. 'There is no stronger company than Joby to help make this mission a reality, for the benefit of all our stakeholders, including our fliers, employees, partners, and the cities we serve.'
The deal will allow Joby aircraft to be the preferred partner for its medical missions, which accounted for the majority of Blade's revenue.
Some Republicans and sources close to the White House had indicated Joby's financial ties to billionaire Reid Hoffman — a known anti-Trump, Silicon Valley donor who backed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 — could have been a stumbling block in the certification process.
5 Some Republicans and sources close to the White House had indicated Joby's financial ties to billionaire Reid Hoffman, a known anti-Trump, Silicon Valley donor who backed Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
REUTERS
A Joby spokesperson previously told The Post that the company, founded in 2009, had 'been actively engaged with the Administration, including the White House, DOT and legislators on certification' and 'received strong, bipartisan support across the board.
But Hoffman, who provided some initial seed funding nearly four years ago as part of a SPAC deal, was replaced on Joby's board last year by investor Michael Thompson, who donated $200,000 to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's America PAC to help re-elect Trump in June 2024, Federal Election Commission filings show.
Thompson has spurred the imaginations of innovators by suggesting that, along with the first passenger flights on its aircraft, Joby could replicate the Wright Brothers take off from the White House in 1911 — and land one of the firm's air taxis on the South Lawn before Trump leaves office.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
13 minutes ago
- The Hill
Putin flexes India, China ties ahead of planned Trump meeting
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday flexed his country's ties with India and China ahead of President Trump's announcement of a planned meeting with Putin in Alaska on Aug. 17. Putin held phone calls with both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, which Trump had set as the deadline for Russia to agree to a peace deal or face 'secondary tariffs' on its key trading partners. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Putin is demanding major territorial concessions by Ukraine in exchange for a halt to fighting. Modi's call with Putin came as India is facing an additional 25 percent in U.S. tariffs over its continued purchase of Russian oil, set to kick in at the end of this month, on top of 25 percent 'reciprocal' tariffs that took effect this week. Modi after the call said he had a 'very good and detailed conversation' with the Russian leader, who briefed him on the latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war. 'We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership,' Modi said. 'I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year.' The call with Modi came a day after Putin met with India's national security adviser Ajit Doval in Moscow. India has pushed back on Trump's tariff threats, saying buying Russian oil is necessary to stabilize domestic energy costs. Putin also spoke with Xi on Friday, briefing the Chinese president on his Wednesday huddle with Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff. The Kremlin said that Xi showed support for the 'settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis.' The Chinese president told Putin that Beijing, which provided crucial support to Russia's war, would continue 'promoting peace and dialogue.' The calls come amid a flurry of diplomacy on all sides after the Wednesday meeting between Putin and Witkoff, which Trump said was 'highly productive' and made 'great progress.' The president warned last month that Russia could stare down 'severe' tariffs if Moscow did not agree to a ceasefire within the next two months, a timeline he shortened to Friday of this week. He has said nations doing business with Russia would face a 100 percent 'secondary' tariffs, in a bid to further isolate Moscow economically. When asked Friday at the White House, while hosting the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for a peace summit, if the Friday deadline would still entail punishment for Russia if it did not agree to a ceasefire, Trump demurred. 'We're going to see what he has to say,' the president told reporters. 'It's gonna be up to him. Very disappointed.' Late on Friday, Trump announced on social media that he and Putin will meet next Friday in Alaska. At the White House, Trump indicated that swapping territories between Russia and Ukraine is part of potential peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. 'You're looking at territory that's been fought over for three and a half years. A lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians. So we're looking at that, but we're actually to get some back and some swapping. It's complicated,' Trump said on Friday. 'It's actually — nothing easy. It's very complicated. But we're going to get some back. And we're going to get some switched,' the president added. 'They'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we'll be talking about that either later or tomorrow or whatever.' The Journal reported that Putin's proposal entails Ukraine withdrawing its military from the eastern Donetsk region, essentially letting Moscow oversee Luhansk and Donetsk, along with Crimea – comprising most of the country's east. A second phase would entail Putin and Trump agreeing on the final peace agreement that would later be discussed with Zelensky. Witkoff's spokesperson declined to comment. Witkoff spoke with senior European officials from Germany, France, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Italy and Finland on Thursday, two sources familiar with the call told The Hill on Thursday. The special envoy held another call with European national security officials on Friday, according to a NATO official and another source briefed on the matter. After the huddle, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's top adviser, Andriy Yermak, said the officials 'focused on coordinating positions to bring a sustainable and just peace for Ukraine as soon as possible.' 'We are ready to work as productively as possible to save lives and stop the fighting,' he wrote on social media. The president said at the White House on Friday that Zelensky 'has to get all of his, everything he needs, because he's going to have to get ready to sign something and I think he's working hard to get that done.'
CNN
14 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump administration targets Harvard's patents
The Trump administration is opening a new front in its battle with Harvard University on the issue of patents, marking a new escalation with the elite school that could result in the loss of additional federal funding or intellectual property rights. In a Friday letter to Harvard President Alan Garber obtained by CNN, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick writes that the Trump administration believes the university is 'in breach of the statutory, regulatory, and contractual requirements tied to Harvard's federal funded research programs and intellectual property arising therefrom, including patents.' The Commerce Department, Lutnick said, is issuing an 'immediate comprehensive review' of Harvard's federally funded research programs. The secretary said the administration was also initiating the 'march-in' process under a law called the Bayh-Dole Act that lets universities patent research and inventions. That means that if Harvard has failed to disclose or patent its inventions, the federal government could take ownership of the patents or grant third-party licenses. The letter, first reported by Reuters, marks the latest action by the Trump administration to exert pressure on the school. The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding for research and has targeted the school's ability to host international students. Harvard and the Trump administration are currently embroiled in a pair of lawsuits. Still, officials remain optimistic about the prospects of a deal with Harvard to restore funding to the school and drop lawsuits and investigations. The Trump administration has recently struck multimillion-dollar agreements with Columbia and Brown universities. 'While there's a lawsuit pending with Harvard, and I'm sure that lawsuit will play out, I do hope that Harvard will continue to come to the table with negotiations. Those talks are continuing, and we'd like to have a resolution there, outside of the courts,' Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a phone interview with CNN last month. Harvard has sent some signals it is willing to work with the Trump administration, including last month when The Harvard Crimson reported that websites for Harvard College centers serving minority and LGBTQ students and women disappeared. The White House welcomed that development, viewing it as a goodwill gesture that one official described as 'good news.' McMahon last month also pointed to the departure of the heads of the university's Middle Eastern Studies center as a positive step.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Is the economy as good as Wall Street says it is? Financial markets and the data are telling different stories.
The U.S. stock market has been on a tear and acting like there's nothing but good news ahead — with major stock indexes hovering near fresh records, investors in a mood to take on risk, and megacap technology stocks soaring on renewed hype around artificial intelligence. Yet beneath the surface, the economic story is far less euphoric: The U.S. labor market is weakening, the large services side of the economy is stagnating, and inflation is ticking up. I plan to work until 80. Can I contribute to my IRA while taking RMDs? Trade Desk's stock sees its worst drop ever, and analysts wonder if Amazon is to blame SoundHound earnings show a growing embrace of voice AI, and the stock is surging 'I have a great mortgage rate': I need $80K to buy my husband out of our home. Do I raid my $180K Roth IRA? So why is Wall Street partying while consumers are starting to feel the pinch? The stock market has been on a hot streak at the start of the second half of 2025. The three major stock indexes have been on a seemingly relentless climb to fresh records, with the S&P 500 SPX and Nasdaq Composite COMP up over 2% and 4% so far this quarter, respectively, according to FactSet data. Small-cap stocks have also ripped higher, pushing the benchmark Russell 2000 index RUT above a milestone known as a 'golden cross' for the first time since January 2024, according to Dow Jones Market Data. A golden cross is a chart pattern used by technical analysts as a gauge of a potential bullish trend for a security or a stock index; it occurs when the 50-day moving average of a stock or index finishes above its 200-day moving average. Stock sectors were also echoing the bullish trend, with cyclical areas such as industrials, consumer discretionary and materials picking up momentum on Wall Street this quarter, even as megacap technology stocks were still leading the rally. The S&P 500's consumer-discretionary sector XX:SP500.25 has jumped 2.3% since early July, while the industrials XX:SP500.20 and materials XX:SP500.15 sectors have gained 2% and nearly 1% in the same period, respectively, according to FactSet. Unlike megacap tech names, cyclical stocks and small caps are more exposed to higher interest rates and therefore more vulnerable to economic downturns. But the divergence between frothy markets and fading economic momentum has raised questions about how long the rally can sustain — and whether investors can ignore the writing on the wall. 'What the market is doing, in our view, is looking through the slow growth in second half of this year and expecting the economy to reaccelerate next year, with the tailwind of both lower interest rates from the Fed and some stimulus from Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill,' said Tony Roth, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors. See: Investors can't afford to ignore the stagflation threat shadowing the market To be sure, Friday's weak July employment report delivered a reality check on the U.S. economy, with the data suggesting very few employers hired last month amid the uncertainty of on-again, off-again tariffs. Adding to the concern, this week's ISM services index showed the services side of the economy barely grew in July, as ongoing trade wars raised costs and spurred reductions in employment — fueling renewed stagflation fears that have loomed over markets this year. The batch of softer-than-expected economic data prompted some market participants to reassess their expectations for interest-rate cuts this year. Fed-funds futures traders are now pricing in a growing likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September — with a 25-basis-point reduction now seen as having a 91% probability, in a sharp rise from last week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. However, the actual scale and effectiveness of upcoming rate cuts this year remain largely unknown, leaving 'not enough information' for anyone to understand how quickly the economy might reaccelerate, Roth said. 'We definitely think the Fed is going to start cutting rates in September, but how much they cut is going to be critical to understanding how fast the economy accelerates next year,' Roth told MarketWatch via phone on Wednesday. 'We also don't know what inflation is going to look like next year, since the tariff situation is still too uncertain to really understand and parse that out.' See: Trump's new tariffs start today. Here's who's getting hit, and by how much. So how can stocks keep rallying with so many uncertainties on the horizon? Despite macroeconomic concerns, many companies — especially those in the technology and financial sectors — have still posted solid quarterly earnings and forward guidance, partially helping justify the elevated valuations in the stock market. As of Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the S&P 500 had reported for the second quarter, and their results largely came in better than expected, according to HSBC Global Investment Research. 'Initial consensus expectations were for a low 5% growth, but reported earnings are now tracking almost double that,' said Nicole Inui, head of equity strategy of Americas at HSBC. 'Financials and tech are leading the way, with earnings growth in the double digits in both cases so far. More than 90% of tech stocks have beat EPS estimates, with many touting the benefits of AI,' Inui wrote in a Wednesday client note. But in the view of Roth, big banks posted strong earnings largely due to strength in their trading divisions and a pickup in mergers-and-acquisitions activity. While banks didn't raise major concerns about consumer-loan losses, they also didn't paint a picture of 'particularly strong consumer health or spending,' he noted. In terms of technology companies, half of the tech sector has yet to report their quarterly results, according to HSBC. Nvidia Corp. NVDA will release its fiscal 2026 second-quarter financial results on Aug. 27. U.S. stocks were mostly lower on Thursday afternoon. At last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was falling 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was losing 0.4% and the Nasdaq was down 0.1%, according to FactSet. Trade Desk's stock tumbles after earnings. Are investors being too harsh? Is the economy as good as Wall Street says it is? Financial markets and the data are telling different stories. 'She lives alone': My mother-in-law, 86, gets $1,300 in Social Security. Is that enough to live on?
