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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

#121

Post by toehead2000 »

lelandbatey wrote: post #62
skinnymuch wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not buying that most people use Lyft in your area - passengers or drivers. I believe you think that and your circle of people may also be doing the same, but beyond that, I'm guessing there's a lot of bias. Especially if you're saying everywhere you go Lyft seems to be more popular among riders. It's just not true at all. For my own anecdote, I'd bet 75% of my FB friends with smartphones within my age range, 21-4…

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.

One time I saw an eagle, it was majestic!

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

#122

Post by toehead2000 »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #97
clairity wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

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

#124

Post by dismantlethesun »

lelandbatey wrote: post #62
skinnymuch wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not buying that most people use Lyft in your area - passengers or drivers. I believe you think that and your circle of people may also be doing the same, but beyond that, I'm guessing there's a lot of bias. Especially if you're saying everywhere you go Lyft seems to be more popular among riders. It's just not true at all. For my own anecdote, I'd bet 75% of my FB friends with smartphones within my age range, 21-4…

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.

Anecdotally, my aged father (72) uses Uber. Uber has spread pretty well to 3rd world countries and is popular in all the vacation spots.

Some people I know tried to switch to Lyft when all the bad PR on Uber hit, but the prices were higher so either they switched back to Uber or the more passionate ones are now riding the metro again.

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

#125

Post by yladiz »

lhorie wrote: post #114
tw04 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While anecdotes are clearly anecdotal - the entirety of my company has started switching. The constant bad press, and quite frankly the CEO being such a jerk has been enough to get my colleagues to almost universally switch. The cost difference is about 3rd on the list of priorities for most business users.

Just thought I'd point out that, in addition to name calling not being very nice in general, it's particularly in poor taste right now given that the person in question is grieving a family death that happened just this weekend[1] [1] http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/27/technology/uber-travis-kalan...

I didn't know about this, and while it's sad, it doesn't excuse his past actions and in the context of this post it doesn't matter. If the post was about his mother passing, and someone mentioned how much of a jerk he is, that's in much worse taste. Saying it in a comment thread on a post about Uber's loss is not in bad taste.

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

#126

Post by dismantlethesun »

jv22222 wrote: post #76
nunez wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> As long as that stays true and Uber continues to grow outside of the US, Lyft doesn't stand a chance. Well, except they do because the local market is simply huge. There is room for multiple competitors. Just like we have ATT, Verizon, Etc.

Regional monopolies or there is some kind of differentiation between the plans. Additionally, they bribe customers into signing multi-year contracts.

It is a totally different space from taxis, where the experience is mostly fungible.

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

#127

Post by kgwgk »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #101
mrep wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People were saying the same thing about Twitter forever and turned out to be largely wrong. Twitter lost 456 million dollars in 2016 [1] and I don't remember them ever being profitable so i don't know how those people are wrong. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

If you look, their losses are because of stock-based comp, not because of spending. It's generally a GAAP loss, not a cash loss.

That doesn't make it less real. The company is giving away shares and investors are diluted. That may be a good deal if the stock is overvalued, but probably investors do not share that view.

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

#128

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

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…

Perhaps I'm being dense, but I don't understand your math. If $3.4 billion represents the 30% Uber cut, then that means total gross bookings is about $11.3 billion. If they raise prices six percent, and have no loss of volume, then total gross bookings comes to about $12 billion.

However, wouldn't you still assume Uber only would get 30% of that extra $700 million in gross bookings? I.e. revenue would only be .3 x $12 billion, which is $3.6 billion, still leaving Uber 500 million short?

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

#129

Post by stephenr »

dingo_bat wrote: post #86

I know most people hate on uber, but it has impacted my life a lot. I think the model they've demonstrated is a legit model, and the ruthlessness with which they pursue it should not take anything away from the company's value. In fact, it should add. I want companies to show a giant middle finger to monopolistic city laws that harm citizens.

When's the last time a mandatory background check to prevent a rapist or child abuser becoming a glorified taxi driver, harmed a citizen?

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

#130

Post by jpatokal »

beager wrote: post #109
encoderer wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lyft just isn't a real competitor outside of major American cities right now. Go to a city without an international airport and see how many lyft drivers there are.

I believe that Lyft doesn't have to compete globally with Uber to be a successful business in its own right. I also believe that Uber isn't immune from being crippled by competitors that operate in a very small but key subset of Uber's markets. There is very little network effect with Uber. Sure, you can hop off a plane anywhere in the world and open Uber to get a car, but that is a very small number of people overal…

You're ignoring that businessmen who travel all the time are very heavy users of Uber and similar services.

I'm not even a frequent flyer, but I'd estimate that a good 80-90% of my Uber usage is travel-related. At home, I have tons of other options to get around, but on a tight schedule in an unfamiliar city, I basically default to Uber all the time, because I rarely have the time or risk tolerance explore alternatives.

One of the things I love about Uber is that I can use it in SF, Singapore, Manila, Helsinki, wherever. It also works sufficiently well that I have near-zero incentive to try out Lyft/Grab/Ola/whatever, particularly since this usually involves yet another tedious sign-up process of entering credit cards and PIN confirmations and yadda yadda.

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