Forget China or Greece. The most important business story on earth right now is quite possibly Uber.
The uber-popular (that pun could not be avoided) app-enabled car riding service is emblematic of just about all the seismic trends rocking the world economy at the moment.
It directly touches everything from the sharing economy, to the evolution of transport, to concerns about the future of work and widening inequality.
The boom in venture-capital backed start-ups? Uber is the biggest of them all – its next funding round could value it at more than $US50 billion – although with 3500 full-time employees around the world (and many more contracted drivers) the term start-up is starting to feel redundant when applied to the company.
But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Uber's rapid ascent here and abroad is the aggressive, take-no-prisoners attitude to expansion it has taken.
As our interactive shows, this certainly applies to Australia. On Australian shores, Uber's offices have been raided by police, private investigators have been sought to monitor its activities, while its drivers have been hit with fines totalling millions of dollars (Uber foots the bill) and it's even been subject to citizen's arrests by a local vigilante.
The company's battle with the Australian Taxation Office takes things to a new level though, as here Uber is not battling a local government but a national authority.
And its strategy in this skirmish could prove instructive. Through Freedom of Information requests, Uber obtained correspondence that it argued showed the taxi lobby had influenced the ATO's decision to (try to) force Uber to pay GST. But the report was leaked to the media before ATO commissioner Chris Jordan had even seen it.
As Uber's battle with the ATO rages, it's worth remembering that when the company gets into a fight with authorities, more often than not, it wins.
Consider its experience in the US state of Illinois, which passed laws banning the service last year.
Uber's response was swift and effective. It released contact details for lawmakers and rallied its large customer base in the state to persuade them and the governor to abandon the legislation. It worked, and Illinois subsequently passed new ride-sharing laws favourable to Uber.
Just last month, Uber claimed another important victory. New York City mayor Bill De Blasio attempted to cap the number of Uber cars operating in what is the company's single biggest market. An advertising campaign criticising the proposal and even a new feature within the app ridiculing de Blasio followed, as did high-profile angst from celebrities. In the end, de Blasio was forced into a humiliating retreat.
Will we see anything similar on these shores if Uber doesn't get its way? That remains to be seen, but a company source indicated to Fairfax Media that it will consider all options going forward in its quest to be treated in a way it thinks is only fair.
You'd have to be brave to bet against it succeeding.
