Saudi Arabia? A country that is itself seeking a cash infusion?!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9dd8cbfe-2755-11e6-8ba3-cdd781d02d...
Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
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Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#52So what if they execute people for what they think are crimes? Who are you to judge what people should or should not do? What you label as evil someone will label as good. There is no absolute evil/good, as you're trying to portray it. It only your opinion vs. their opinion.
How can you seriously think that? Do you think that crucifying someone for taking part in pro-democratic protests is not universally bad? Why not let our government do it? If they label it as good, who are we to judge ...
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#53according e.g. to the stories linked below and many previous reports, Uber actively aims to reduce the number of cars on the road, and its efforts, especially Uber Pool will reduce the oil consumption and, as a result, oil prices...
And now they get the largest investment yet from a party that is NOT interested in falling oil prices... What am I missing here?
https://newsroom.uber.com/us-new-york/taking-1-million-cars-...
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/may/31/...
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#54Latest Uber worry: When the Tesla 3 comes out, Uber drivers clogging the fast-charging stations. "Free power for life" is a great deal when you're a cab.
I was going to speculate that they will charge for access, but Googling to get the Supercharger name right lead here:
http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/06/no-free-superchargers-fo...
Announced today, they will charge for access.
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my simplistic mind, their business model is to spend a lot of money today in order to create a monopoly tomorrow.
In what way is the ride-share market any sort of monopoly when there's little barrier to entry. In fact, I see new entrants in this market all the time. Hardly any chance to be a real monopoly unless they can somehow carve their way to exclusivity in a market, which is never going to happen.
Sorry if I was not clear. I meant that it sounds to me that this is their plan. I didn't say they will succeed.
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#56Uber needing 3.5B is a huge negative sign IMO. Clearly something is broken with their business model.
In my simplistic mind, their business model is to spend a lot of money today in order to create a monopoly tomorrow.
If you look at the Uber blogs and public statements, the company is far more ambitious than simply being the ride sharer with the largest market share.
The company's vision is to make transportation as seamless and reliable as running water. They have other projects going on right now, such as delivery truck automation and self-driving cars. I would consider them to be competing not only with Lyft but also with Hertz, Budget, and Enterprise.
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's only Fat city if there's an exit at that valuation. We're talking Theranos style valuations here that can disappear at any time. They better find an exit scenario before the music stops or it's a world of hurt, especially for the later stage investors.
The only thing that can ''take out'' Uber is widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles, whereupon ride sharing becomes a physical-capital intensive business (cars) rather than the current human-capital intensive business (drivers/their driver network). Autonomous vehicles (and the infrastructure to support them) significantly reduce the amazing network efforts that Uber has enjoyed to date. An investment into Uber a…
> The only thing that can ''take out'' Uber is widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles
That's ridiculous. It's not even a little hard to imagine that they could be overtaken by a similar competitor such as Lyft given a plausible sequence of events. In fact it's basically a certainty that they would be if they ever abandoned competing based on price. Which defeats a hell of a lot of the point of paying to acquire a monopoly in the first place.
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's revise "solid business model" to "solid ability to sell the company's value". A solid business model doesn't require this sort of continuous cash infusion.
> A solid business model doesn't require this sort of continuous cash infusion. Where is this assumption that this cash is required coming from? A very common use for investment is to accelerate plans which would otherwise unfold over long/impractical timelines. Another common use is to get ahead of competitors. I know much of HN is very eager to see all billion dollar valuations deflate so as to prove that extremely…
> much of HN is very eager to see all billion dollar valuations deflate
where do you get this from? HN is news for the people building startups and I would imagine they like high valuations :)
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#59What I find particularly interesting is Uber now has someone on their board who thinks women should not be allowed to drive? It will be interesting to watch this play out and take note of their policy and public statements. I can see many sources of conflict in such a decision.
Re: Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5B Cash Infusion
#60"Excuse me driver, can you pull over for a minute? I need to beat my servant." http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beati...
Rumor has it they're working on an on-demand servant beating service called Uber Beats.