Isn't he a director of former?
Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
51–60 of 96 posts
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#52Neither of these companies is actually adding any value at all as far as I can tell. Uber is undercutting taxis/transit with investor-subsidized rides and still has no idea how it's going to turn a profit unless it becomes the only ride in town. WeWork is pure middleman with some good branding. It amazes me that people believe these valuations. However, I can't agree with the cat comment; I'm sure Uber engineering ar…
Have you ever used Uber? Did you ever use Taxis back when they existed? It's astonishing to me how much better Uber is than Taxis, there's no question that they're adding a ton of value compared to what they're replace, at least for me as a consumer. But I hardly think I'm alone in this. On the other-hand will they be able to profit from this value? That's at best tbd, and likely already a conclusive no, they've built a valuable commodity, that people aren't even used to paying commodity prices for because it's been VC subsidized for so long. So I can't agree with the adding no value comment, but I don't think the valuation is correct.
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#53Neither of these companies is actually adding any value at all as far as I can tell. Uber is undercutting taxis/transit with investor-subsidized rides and still has no idea how it's going to turn a profit unless it becomes the only ride in town. WeWork is pure middleman with some good branding. It amazes me that people believe these valuations. However, I can't agree with the cat comment; I'm sure Uber engineering ar…
I work in WeWork (not for them, my company uses them) and I think that they provide tremendous value. I don't see how they are middleman at all. Having worked at many startups and small companies over the years I know that finding a good space to work is difficult. WeWork is making it very easy and provide a lot of services on top of that which make it worthwhile. Are they unique? No, but that doesn't mean they don't provide value.
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#54Neither of these companies is actually adding any value at all as far as I can tell. Uber is undercutting taxis/transit with investor-subsidized rides and still has no idea how it's going to turn a profit unless it becomes the only ride in town. WeWork is pure middleman with some good branding. It amazes me that people believe these valuations. However, I can't agree with the cat comment; I'm sure Uber engineering ar…
The biggest thing that Uber added was the ride-summoning app. I gather that these are beginning to come into existence for taxi companies, but especially at the time, it was a huge boon to download one app and be able to summon a ride wherever you went. Instead, you often had to place an actual voice phone call -- or multiple calls, since different companies had different dispatchers. You would get no feedback on whe…
> I gather that these are beginning to come into existence for taxi companies
There is a lot of value in having only one or two major players in this space. I often travel and use Lyft or Uber to get around. If you have to Google 3 companies every time your plane lands in a new city and create a new account and add your credit card, that is a tremendous hassle.
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#55Now that we've nearly migrated everything off Sparc & Oracle DB I'm ready to declare Oracle almost worthless too. At last.
Considering how often they sue their customers, increase prices after lockin is established, triple their support fees, etc etc. one might consider Oracle less than worthless. Sometimes it's a liability.
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dont think uber is very useful outside the US
Only HN's can think their opinion is worth more than millions of people spending and earning money in more than 50 countries.
Uber has little traction in Europe for example. It seems to be a huge deal in the US though
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samshead/2019/05/10/ubers-rocky...
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#57outline https://outline.com/TfLjdh
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#58Neither of these companies is actually adding any value at all as far as I can tell. Uber is undercutting taxis/transit with investor-subsidized rides and still has no idea how it's going to turn a profit unless it becomes the only ride in town. WeWork is pure middleman with some good branding. It amazes me that people believe these valuations. However, I can't agree with the cat comment; I'm sure Uber engineering ar…
You obviously don't know Ellison's cat...
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Uber (and Lyft) are absolutely adding value. I now regularly take ride shares when I would previously have driven or extremely reluctantly taken cabs. I also talk to my rideshare drivers and the platforms provide some much needed cashflow (and perhaps day-filling) for people who seem genuinely happy to avail themselves of the income opportunity provided. I see no reason to think that those two companies could…
They may add value vs taxis, but would Uber or Lyft add value vs any other startup taxi service? Expanding further, How about a taxi-app you and I could sit down and hack out? How much value-add is there in an Uber or Lyft vs what we could do?
In my area, they add no real value over the standard taxi companies. Literally the only advantage to them is that they're cheaper (which is an artificial and unsustainable difference). Everything else they do is also done equally well by the cab companies.
That may be why there aren't an increasing number of Uber and Lyft drivers here, but the taxi companies are expanding.
Re: Oracle’s Larry Ellison Calls Uber and WeWork ‘Almost Worthless’
#60Neither of these companies is actually adding any value at all as far as I can tell. Uber is undercutting taxis/transit with investor-subsidized rides and still has no idea how it's going to turn a profit unless it becomes the only ride in town. WeWork is pure middleman with some good branding. It amazes me that people believe these valuations. However, I can't agree with the cat comment; I'm sure Uber engineering ar…
Have you ever used Uber? Did you ever use Taxis back when they existed? It's astonishing to me how much better Uber is than Taxis, there's no question that they're adding a ton of value compared to what they're replace, at least for me as a consumer. But I hardly think I'm alone in this. On the other-hand will they be able to profit from this value? That's at best tbd, and likely already a conclusive no, they've buil…
> Have you ever used Uber? Did you ever use Taxis back when they existed?
Yes, and yes, but (at least where I live), the Uber/Lyft "experience" is not superior to the taxis at all.