Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 213 posts

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#91

Post by erikpukinskis »

hodder wrote: post #35
ProAm wrote: post #15

Is anyone really surprised? Years before the IPO we knew they were not profitable in the least. We knew VC cash was subsidizing rides. We knew that their future was purely dependent on a self-driving car fleet where they could ditch drivers (and their pay) completely. This on top of a horrible culture with pretty lousy ethics and morality. This is how this was supposed to play out and everyone here (on HN) knew that.…

Sure, but the same could be said of Tesla. Horrible employer, constant exec churn, unbelievable cash burn, what appears to be structural losses.... But Tesla still has a 56B mcap today. Uber is 46B. These VC/equity issue cash furnaces can go on longer than most can fathom if a subset of investors believe in the long term vision.

Do you really see structural losses when you look at the graph of Tesla’s P/L?

I don’t understand how you could interpret the charts that way. That seems like a talking point people parrot who have never looked at the numbers.

I mean, this is Tesla and Uber on the same timescale:

https://imgur.com/gallery/NOsh4b1

Certainly one of those companies has structural losses.

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#94

Post by ummonk »

safog wrote: post #16

From Q3 results, it sounded like the company was profitable just on ride-sharing itself and was losing a ton of money on eats + cargo + autonomous vehicles R&D. I wonder what a fair valuation would be for just the ride-sharing business if they were to spin off / shut down every other part of their business and essentially become Lyft.

Does that include the driver incentives that are counted under marketing spend rather than subtracted from revenue as they should be?

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#95

Post by bloomer »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #73
ProAm wrote: post #15

Is anyone really surprised? Years before the IPO we knew they were not profitable in the least. We knew VC cash was subsidizing rides. We knew that their future was purely dependent on a self-driving car fleet where they could ditch drivers (and their pay) completely. This on top of a horrible culture with pretty lousy ethics and morality. This is how this was supposed to play out and everyone here (on HN) knew that.…

”self-driving car fleet ” Uber has zero competence in fleet management. Everything they do is to avoid investing in a fleet.i would argue that rental car companies or car dealers are positioned much better.

Weird that this is being downvoted because Uber has shown no interest in acquiring and managing assets (self-driving cars or even their own cars) which is a completely different business than being a marketer for independent taxis. If self-driving cars become a business it seems like rental car companies would be ideally positioned to take advantage of them.

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#96

Post by Barrin92 »

ganitarashid wrote: post #92

It’s funny how Uber simultaneously says it’s all about supporting drivers and treating them like family, and at the same time they want to fire them all so that robots can do the driving. So which way is it?

it depends on whether you're trying to swindle regulators or investors, so it varies day by day.

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#97

Post by ganitarashid »

omarhaneef wrote: post #19

So I think people may be misinterpreting this drop: lock up expired today, so the sales today -- throughout the day -- are a result of the lock up expiry. This pre-market drop is the result of people anticipating the drop and selling before the market opens. It is also, partly, driven by the disappointing earnings from 3 days ago, and indeed the drops over the last few days have been about as large. For what its wort…

Slightly up from the open but still down majorly from yesterday. Are you in marketing?

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#98

Post by Ididntdothis »

bloomer wrote: post #95
Ididntdothis wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

”self-driving car fleet ” Uber has zero competence in fleet management. Everything they do is to avoid investing in a fleet.i would argue that rental car companies or car dealers are positioned much better.

Weird that this is being downvoted because Uber has shown no interest in acquiring and managing assets (self-driving cars or even their own cars) which is a completely different business than being a marketer for independent taxis. If self-driving cars become a business it seems like rental car companies would be ideally positioned to take advantage of them.

Uber is the ultimate middleman company. It would only work if people bought their own self driving cars and rented them out to Uber to make some extra money.

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#99

Post by aSplash0fDerp »

dd36 wrote: post #59
hodder wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but the same could be said of Tesla. Horrible employer, constant exec churn, unbelievable cash burn, what appears to be structural losses.... But Tesla still has a 56B mcap today. Uber is 46B. These VC/equity issue cash furnaces can go on longer than most can fathom if a subset of investors believe in the long term vision.

Tesla is building a product. Automated dispatch is not protectable.

BINGO!

After all of the pennies are counted, the cost to pave the way for the future where other companies take market share after the dust settles is astounding.

Had they rolled their 1st mover advantage into building and smoothering markets (think scooters) with IP locked autonomous taxis, a trillion dollar valuation would have been acceptable.

Re: Uber Sinks to New Record Low as IPO Share Lockup Expires

#100

Post by nullecksor »

I was hired at Uber with the promise of 49$ a share, and boosting that it will go up to 75 by the time of IPO. Naive me at the time didn’t research more on it, but these were just some numbers thrown at me in 2015. I will never trust a recruiter offering me snake oil again. That said, I left after a year and a day, and this price makes my compensation close to less than new industry hire.
Post reply on HN