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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

#91
post #82
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, for sure. But being spread thinly over dozens of small markets isn't necessarily a better idea than concentrating on a few large ones.

Counter example India, Lyft can now never come here. Soon it will be one of Uber's biggest market.

Why not?

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

#92

$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…

> Plus, most of the Uber drivers are shady here and the people think Ubers a snaky company.

I bet you'll think that you're not a racist or a bigot, and yet you're making the exact same connection a racist or bigot would. Just because someone drives for Uber, they are shady? That's a terrible stereotype to be propagating, just like our esteemed president saying "Most illegal immigrants are rapists."

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

#93
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 has a solid worldwide presence. Lyft does not. You can go into nearly any state and most countries (I think all of the first world countries and a bunch of second world ones too) and book an Uber. As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. If Lyft could light up worldwide scale right now, they absolutely would have. Something is holding them back. It's l…

Everyone keeps forgetting that Lyft has first-mover advantage. Lyft basically created ride-sharing, Uber was a black-car company and had to play catch-up to Lyft.

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

#94
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$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.

The fact they're losing money like this doesn't really mean anything because Uber isn't a normal business. It's not some little mom & pop outfit that has bills to pay. This is a company whose investors (e.g. the Saudis) have so much cash a billion here and a billion there barely matters. It's a place for absurdly wealthy people to park vast sums of cash on the bet that Uber will continue to gobble up marketshare from…

s/park/burn/

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

#95
post #91
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter example India, Lyft can now never come here. Soon it will be one of Uber's biggest market.

Why not?

We had a local competitior backed by soft bank. They are in bad shape. All because of execution. I don't see any other company able to match that ruthlessness.

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

#96
post #82
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, for sure. But being spread thinly over dozens of small markets isn't necessarily a better idea than concentrating on a few large ones.

Counter example India, Lyft can now never come here. Soon it will be one of Uber's biggest market.

Ola seems to be doing fine and I think they've some sort of partnership with lyft where at some point in time you'll be able to use the lyft app and hail ola rides. This hasn't happened yet, though.

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

#97

$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…

that's incorrect. $3.4B is their gross revenue (gross bookings) and out of that they probably paid 70% to drivers ($2.4B). i say probably because that assumes a single revenue source, no diffential payments to drivers and no other direct costs (COGS). so indeed, they would need revenues to go up by ~20% to break even. that in turn means a 20% rise in average prices to break even (again assuming a single revenue sourc…

No, you're wrong. 3.4B is their revenue, not their gross bookings.

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

#98
post #32

> 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. You are 'literally' watching Uber take a 'dramatic' hit. Okay. Extremely price competitive market, yet you only mention Lyft. > Lyft came to town and probably 80% of the drivers solely use them now, driving up the Uber prices. Where did you get your numbers from? Just making s…

Commenting this uncivilly will get your account banned on HN, so please don't do that, and please in particular don't accuse other users of astroturfing just because you happen to hold a different view than they do. It's a popular internet trope but it isn't allowed here.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456973 and marked it off-topic.

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

#99
post #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/minu…

From internal sources, I can say with some confidence that they are profitable in most major US cities.

(I do not work for Uber, so take this for what it's worth)

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

#100
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as we're sharing anecdotes, most of the people I know, parents and young kids included, have made the switch to Lyft starting about 8 months ago. They seem to be the less evil company, so people enjoy working for and using them.

Most of my family and friends exclusively use Uber because of Travis and his values.

lol
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