Valuable intermediaries: how BlaBlaCar, Facebook, PayPal or Uber create value.

Summary Boosted by new technologies, platforms such as Uber and Airbnb, but also Facebook and Google, are the new intermediaries of today. Connecting users or different groups of users and allowing them to interact, these platforms are experiencing phenomenal success, commensurate with the upheavals and fears they raise. Based on the internationally recognized expertise of the authors, this book uses multiple examples to uncover the reasons for such success without ignoring the failures. It shows how platforms operate, how they differ from traditional businesses and how they are transforming the global economy, forcing other businesses to reinvent themselves in order to survive. "This book is fascinating from start to finish. It will provide food for thought for economic actors as well as for all those who want to better understand the evolution of our economy and our society," Jean Tirole, 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics [Source: 4th cover].