Uber and Yandex merge ride-hailing business in Russia

• Uber made a similar move last August when it merged its Chinese business with Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing company. The decision was effectively a capitulation in the face of Didi's much biggest market share, raising the question of how well Uber has been doing in Russia and surrounding areas.
• In June, the companies reported a combined total of 35 million rides and $130 million in gross bookings.
• Uber will invest $225 million and Yandex will put in $100 million into the new company, which will have a post-money valuation of $3.725 billion. Yandex will own 59.3%, Uber will have 36.6%, and employees will own 4.1% on a fully diluted basis. Tigran Khudaverdyan, currently the chief executive of YandexTaxi, will become CEO, while the new board will have four Yandex-appointed reps and three Uber-appointed reps. The local operations of Uber's food delivery business, UberEats, also will become part of the new company.

• "After nearly a month of stonewalling, it appears clear that the President has chosen the path of defiance, obstruction, and cover-up," the letter reads.

The state of play: Several White House officials have told Axios' Alayna Treene that the administration has no plans of complying with the committees' demands for interviews or documents without a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry.

The big picture: The Trump administration's initial refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint on the president's interactions with Ukraine is what led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to finally support a formal impeachment inquiry.

Go deeper: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry

• Johnson asked the Justice Department earlier this week to look into links between Ukraine and Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. His letter questioned the narrative that Biden's actions in Ukraine had nothing to do with his son's connection.
• However, it was also discovered that he signed onto a 2016 letter that mirrored Biden's work to reform Ukraine's prosecutor general and judiciary.
• There is no evidence that Biden's reform work in Ukraine was to protect his son's business dealings, as the president and some of his allies allege, or that he committed any form of corruption.

The state of play: Sondland, a Trump political appointee who donated $1 million to the president's inaugural committee, denied that there was a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Ukraine's government in a series of text messages that former Ukraine special envoy Kurt Volker provided to a group of House committees investigating the Trump-Ukraine matter.

• "I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign," Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, texted Sondland.
• Sondland texted back: "Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump's intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo's of any kind."
• The New York Times reported that Sondland's response came only after he spoke to the president.

Go deeper: House committees release texts from former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker