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Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

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Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#13
$708 million loss, narrowed from $991 million last quarter

18% growth from last quarter (note: that's not Y/Y. this is ridiculously fast, given the huge base.)

708mm loss / 3.4 billion in revenue is only about 20% under even. And what most people miss, is that the 3.4 billion is the 30% cut Uber takes from a ride. Prices don't have to rise 20% to break even, prices have to rise 6% (assuming no efficiency improvements via pool etc, which is frankly ridiculous)

Yeah... Uber is doing fine.

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#14
They haven't broken out the losses.

(a) Are they profitable in the US? That would be a huge milestone.

(b) If not entire US, are they profitable in top-X US urban markets, and thus losses are all due to expansion into 2nd/3rd quartile of cities?

(c) Maybe some metrics like "After subtracting R&D efforts in self-driving cars, and legal fees due to multiple lawsuits, we are on average making X cents for every mile/minute driven."

"Our drivers take X days to enroll, and then work for us Y hours per week, and the turnover rate is Z."

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#15
Great example of how the headlines can drive a story more than the story itself.

While Uber may have posted $708 million of losses, it is also up 18% in revenue from last quarter. That's 3.4 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2017.

Uber is making approximately $1,500,000 per hour.

I dislike Uber as much as the next person for ethical reasons, but a company that can achieve millions of dollars in revenue per day, in 7 years, is quite extraordinary.

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#16

$708 million loss, narrowed from $991 million last quarter 18% growth from last quarter (note: that's not Y/Y. this is ridiculously fast, given the huge base.) 708mm loss / 3.4 billion in revenue is only about 20% under even. And what most people miss, is that the 3.4 billion is the 30% cut Uber takes from a ride. Prices don't have to rise 20% to break even, prices have to rise 6% (assuming no efficiency improvements…

> Uber is doing fine.

Yes and no, they are in a space which is extremely price competitive. I literally am watching Uber take a dramatic hit in my area right now. Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices.

Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company.

I realize this is ancidotal, but everywhere I go (I travel a lot, switching between Uber and lyft), Lyft seems to be more popular among drivers and riders. They simply don't use it because of price/market share. However, adjust the price or driver's and the equation changes.

I honestly still don't see them making it out of their situation.

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#17

$708 million loss, narrowed from $991 million last quarter 18% growth from last quarter (note: that's not Y/Y. this is ridiculously fast, given the huge base.) 708mm loss / 3.4 billion in revenue is only about 20% under even. And what most people miss, is that the 3.4 billion is the 30% cut Uber takes from a ride. Prices don't have to rise 20% to break even, prices have to rise 6% (assuming no efficiency improvements…

> Uber is doing fine. Yes and no, they are in a space which is extremely price competitive. I literally am watching Uber take a dramatic hit in my area right now. Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices. Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people. Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company. I realize this is a…

Uber is doing fine where I live. No one is using Lyft here. Also this https://xkcd.com/605/

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the silly dig at Snap? If you subtract Snap's employee stock program it lost $200m last quarter which is a lot less than Uber's $700m loss.

Uber might actually exist in 10 years, the dig at Snap seems extremely fair game in this frothy environment

At their respective current burn rates they both probably have 3-4 years left.

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#19

I wonder how they'll be able to raise more cash with all this turmoil within the company. Even a 15B [1] cash hoard can't last much longer at this burn rate. [1] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/business/dealbook/why-...

assuming nothing changes, don't they have 10 more quarters at this burn rate?

Re: Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

#20

$708 million loss, narrowed from $991 million last quarter 18% growth from last quarter (note: that's not Y/Y. this is ridiculously fast, given the huge base.) 708mm loss / 3.4 billion in revenue is only about 20% under even. And what most people miss, is that the 3.4 billion is the 30% cut Uber takes from a ride. Prices don't have to rise 20% to break even, prices have to rise 6% (assuming no efficiency improvements…

> prices have to rise 6% (assuming no efficiency improvements via pool etc, which is frankly ridiculous)

If Uber raises 6%, the revenue Uber will decrease. If you raise the price, simply there will be less rides because people will find alternatives such as Lyft, taxi, or even public transportations.

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