Has there been a startup in recent history that was losing this amount of money per year (planned or not) that ended up going green and successful?
Hasn't Amazon been losing money for a long time?
Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
121–130 of 424 posts
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Proof that HN is out-of-touch...
This here doesn't apply. Uber isn't a cash venture, and several activities in the US require either a credit card upon which temporary authorizations can be placed, or a full (and sometimes, over-)payment on a debit card, the difference being that the debit card isn't backed by a line of credit that becomes due in at least 20 days, but rather it is spent directly out of a checking account. You need this for: - gas st…
Gas stations, restaurants, and bars , IME, have no problems with cash.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I tried Lyft the other day, but after they charged me $25 as an "authorization hold" without notification, I cancelled my ride and decided to stick with Uber. Note that Uber's auth charge is usually around $1. $25 may not be a significant amount for some, but it's non-trivial for a college student like myself. Most gas pumps authorize $100. Use a credit card.
Personally I've never experienced that
Not all places do it. It's mostly common in lower income areas
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? It appears to have no value to anyone but the immediate consumer. That's not a business, it's a charity. What a collossal waste of cash.
Drivers getting paid above the market and riders getting rides below the market would disagree. If anything, it's a bizarre kind of socialism: rich venture capitalists voluntarily redistributing their wealth to the public.
I would rephrase that: rich venture capitalists voluntarily redistributing their limited partners wealth to the general public.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lyft may be more expensive on paper but I always use it instead of Uber where it is available and they send me so many discounts and coupons that I almost never pay the full price.
Out of curiosity, why do you prefer Lyft?
Not parent, but years ago after hearing that Uber employees were sending fake Lyft requests I decided I didn't want to support a company that would engage in those types of shady practices
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#126Presumably this is intentional -- Uber could raise prices and make more money, but right now they're choosing to keep prices very low in order to undercut Lyft and the cab companies with the assumption that having a monopoly will return more profits in the future. At least anecdotally, here in SF Lyft is almost always more expensive than Uber.
I think almost certainly their profitability is dependent on a future of driverless cars, and I'm sure that's what they are pitching investors.
Fearfully, since their survival means going driverless and they are now losing $800 million a quarter, they will race to get driverless cars on the road, it will be rushed, and it could be reckless. I'm thinking the two driverless cars filmed blowing red lights in SF recently (at the very start of their SF driverless program), not to mention possibly many other traffic violations that no one happened to be filming. They are going to wrangle regulators and skirt laws to make it happen with urgency. They now have an advisor to Trump.
I'm just here watching the rushing of driverless cars onto the road by Uber so that their company doesn't collapse. We'll see what happens.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#127Presumably this is intentional -- Uber could raise prices and make more money, but right now they're choosing to keep prices very low in order to undercut Lyft and the cab companies with the assumption that having a monopoly will return more profits in the future. At least anecdotally, here in SF Lyft is almost always more expensive than Uber.
Would the monopoly plan really work? Is there something that would prevent competition from reappearing when prices are raised? At least from customer perspective it would be pretty easy to use couple of apps and shop between different providers. For drivers this might be of course more difficult, since Uber can use contracts and other mechanisms to prevent them from working with other providers.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is they are just taking a free pass on conducting background checks, and skipping safety guidelines. When they replace all taxis, do they really think they can just permanently ignore all driving laws? Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations? What happened to having a "we can do better" mindse…
> Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations? ... Has everybody wigged out and flipped their "I want a nanny state to protect me 24/7" bit? Please stop perpetuating this myth- started by Eric Raymond and happily encouraged by SV "thought leaders"- that hackers must , by definition, be laissez-faire capitalists who love Ayn Rand and treat breaking laws as a noble goal in and of itself. I do none of…
> regulations are vital for ensuring human health and happiness
I agree. The regulations created for the war on drugs has lifted millions of African Americans out of poverty and into group-oriented communities that promise shelter, free food, and at least one hour of happiness per day.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is they are just taking a free pass on conducting background checks, and skipping safety guidelines. When they replace all taxis, do they really think they can just permanently ignore all driving laws? Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations? What happened to having a "we can do better" mindse…
Somewhere in between "Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations?" and "I want a nanny state to protect me 24/7" exists a middle ground where people realize that government regulation exists for a reason. You can't just throw away the law for the sake of your definition of progress...
You can't just throw away the law for the sake of your definition of progress...
Sure you can. Laws aren't magical and there's nothing about the State that gives it any actual innate authority.
Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue
#130Presumably this is intentional -- Uber could raise prices and make more money, but right now they're choosing to keep prices very low in order to undercut Lyft and the cab companies with the assumption that having a monopoly will return more profits in the future. At least anecdotally, here in SF Lyft is almost always more expensive than Uber.
I tried Lyft the other day, but after they charged me $25 as an "authorization hold" without notification, I cancelled my ride and decided to stick with Uber. Note that Uber's auth charge is usually around $1. $25 may not be a significant amount for some, but it's non-trivial for a college student like myself. I would have been happy had they just notified me first instead of my bank. Terrible UX to be frank. I actua…
I've never seen a $25 authorization hold before. Usually Lyft does something like $5. In any case, once the charge is captured, the rest of the authorization should go away (and the charge is captured as soon as you rate/tip the driver, or after 24 hours, whichever comes first).