Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
nytimes.com
Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
1–10 of 170 posts
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#2I can't imagine Uber doesn't start raising prices and drop out of markets they aren't profitable in.
No way they can bring in more investments (although maybe they could get a loan). Given the changes and their runway, I honestly see Lyft managing to outpace Uber in the next 12 months.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#3I wonder if Kalanick saw the writing on the wall and is getting out of the way of the oncoming train wreck, in order to set up a Jobs-style comeback at some point...
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#4Wait so first he demands Kalanick resign, then he resigns? Did he burn all his bridges, or was there some strategy here?
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#5I'm unsurprised. Kalanick has enough support on the board that I'd imagine they'd make it uncomfortable for Gurley to stay. The whole situation is fascinating as it has shown how important the soft power board members hold is. Strictly speaking, no one can force Kalanick or Gurley out, but out they are.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#6I can't imagine Uber doesn't start raising prices and drop out of markets they aren't profitable in. No way they can bring in more investments (although maybe they could get a loan). Given the changes and their runway, I honestly see Lyft managing to outpace Uber in the next 12 months.
Doesn't Uber operate in a ton of countries? Lyft operates only in the US, right? And even then, isn't Uber in more cities?
Lyft has no choice but to subsidize itself into extinction. If Uber pulled back entirely into the US alone then Lyft would be truly doomed. Only by spreading themselves thin does Lyft have a fair fight.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#7I can't imagine Uber doesn't start raising prices and drop out of markets they aren't profitable in. No way they can bring in more investments (although maybe they could get a loan). Given the changes and their runway, I honestly see Lyft managing to outpace Uber in the next 12 months.
Why do you think they can't get more investments? They just completed this report and now Travis is out; unless you have proof you can't say they didn't fix their issues. So not only have they shown concern to solving a major PR and culture issue but they're absolutely HUGE. If they IPO it could be an incredible exit.
Am I missing something? They seem far, far more investable now.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#8I can't imagine Uber doesn't start raising prices and drop out of markets they aren't profitable in. No way they can bring in more investments (although maybe they could get a loan). Given the changes and their runway, I honestly see Lyft managing to outpace Uber in the next 12 months.
I'm no expert, but I have to believe that the next step has to be stabilize the patient.
- Cut back on actions and strategies that only make sense in the context of massive continued growth.
- Set prices to sustainable levels even though that means the buy-on-price segment of your customer base goes away. That's an ultimately unprofitable race-to-the-bottom segment you don't want anyway.
- At that point, potentially pull out of places where you don't have the critical mass to operate--especially in non-US markets where there are probably fixed costs to operate.
- Autonomous vehicles? That's going to happen over a decade or three timeframe that's utterly irrelevant to Uber even if a first mover advantage was defensible.
- And, yeah, the company is now far less valued to investors but it can potentially at least stay intact as a viable business.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#9I remain flabbergasted by all of this upheaval at Uber. What's happening is the sort of housecleaning I would expect if the company had to file for bankruptcy or got caught flat out bribing judges or something. But really, what triggered all this was acting like jerks.
It seems to me, what should have happened (a long time ago) was that they got shut down for systematically breaking the law, or encouraging others to do so. That would have made sense.
But instead they are getting flayed alive by not much more than bad press for being jerks. Makes no goddamn sense.
Re: Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board
#10Wait so first he demands Kalanick resign, then he resigns? Did he burn all his bridges, or was there some strategy here?
The Captain Ahab, I believe it's called.