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Uber Posts $708M Loss as Finance Head Leaves

wsj.com

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

#21

Post by chenster »

lettergram wrote: post #16
bpodgursky wrote: post #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…

> 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…

> 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.

Why's that?

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

#22

Post by bo1024 »

If I understood the Reuters article correctly, Uber made $3.4 billion and therefore lost $4.1 billion in the first quarter of 2017.

Can someone help me understand what Uber spends $4.1 billion dollars on in 3 months? Is it because they're subsidizing rides by that much on average? (i.e. paying drivers more than riders pay)

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

#23

Post by wand3r »

guelo wrote: post #6
untilHellbanned wrote: post #2

"Revenue up 18% Loss down 1/3rd 22x+ the revenue of $snap So much important work left to do, but congrats to the @Uber team." https://twitter.com/jason/status/870059383765389312

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.

This is a tweet from Calacanis. I think he invested in Uber. I have no idea. Guess is that they are a recently public tech company that is an app w/ network Dynamics.

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

#24

Post by conjecTech »

Last quarter people drew attention to the different accounting methods used for pool versus other uber services, with pool booking the entire price of the ride as revenue rather than just uber's take. Does anyone have a sense of how much of the increase in revenue is due to increased ridership versus a shift in demand towards pool? Do flat fares use the same methodology?

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

#25

Post by AlwaysRock »

lettergram wrote: post #16
bpodgursky wrote: post #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…

> 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…

It's really hard to look at ride sharing apps without being clouded by your own experience. There are likely other people in your town/city who would say most people use uber and 80% of the drivers only drive for uber. It's a weirdly personal experience so its hard to see other peoples point of view which is why we have to rely on statistics like this one that show what's going on without personal experience getting in the way.

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

#26

Post by ProfessorLayton »

randomdrake wrote: post #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,…

$1,500,000 per hour in revenue sounds great.

Spending $1,872,000 per hour to bring in $1,500,000 per hour sounds less great.

I understand that it takes money to make money, but this is one of the most extreme cases in a business.

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

#27

Post by noway421 »

zeusk wrote: post #5
rattray wrote: post #4

Reuters (non-paywall): https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-results-idUSKBN18R3E...

wsj Article Unlock bookmark: javascript:window.location.href='http(s)://m.facebook.com/l.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href); remove the '(' and ')' around s in https

This is incredible. Context: wsj allows clicks from facebook to view the content without paid subscription.

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

#28

Post by cocktailpeanuts »

lettergram wrote: post #16
bpodgursky wrote: post #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…

> 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…

> Now, I only use Lyft - as do most of the people.

Nope.

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

#29

Post by SomeStupidPoint »

So Uber made 612M more in revenue and lost 283M less money, in 17Q1 than 16Q4.

Naively, that seems like a good sign (for Uber), but it could also just be that they stopped growth spending or are hiding losses in unreported figures.

Does anyone have more insight in to what could have caused it?

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

#30

Post by bpodgursky »

nullnilvoid wrote: post #20
bpodgursky wrote: post #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…

> 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.

An irrelevant percent of people will choose to take the bus because their $10 ride is now $10.50.

I agree that they are competing against Lyft on price, but they will both sooner or later have to reach break-even; neither will run at a loss forever. Rides will shift between them, but the rideshare market as a whole will shrink trivially when it does.

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