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

Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 291 posts

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#221

Post by barry-cotter »

blunte wrote: post #145

Maybe because I'm outside the unicorn bubble I can't see the magic, but I find something very warped about a business strategy that combines stratospheric valuation, intentional regulatory non-compliance, perpetual capital injections, service misrepresentation, and unprofessional corporate behavior... and results in massive financial losses year after year. When I try to balance the elements, it frankly looks like an…

Everyone except owners of taxi medallions and maybe Uber investors and taxi drivers won. Black people who could actually now get a taxi won. People who wanted to reserve a car and have it show up on time won. People who wanted service in places taxi drivers didn’t want to go won.

Taxi regulation was so comprehensively captured and rider hostile, and this was true for so long, that there was never any reason to believe it would improve. If all Uber achieved was coming close to burning that entire industry structure to the ground Uber is a massive boon to everyone who wants a ride and doesn’t want to deal with lying, cheating, lying, racist taxi service.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#222

Post by masonic »

stephencoyner wrote: post #176
blunte wrote: post #145

Maybe because I'm outside the unicorn bubble I can't see the magic, but I find something very warped about a business strategy that combines stratospheric valuation, intentional regulatory non-compliance, perpetual capital injections, service misrepresentation, and unprofessional corporate behavior... and results in massive financial losses year after year. When I try to balance the elements, it frankly looks like an…

Riders won big. The ability to order a car and get a ride in minutes is now engrained into society. Who can imagine major metros in the US without ride share? The continued capital injections and subsidized prices have been great for consumers.

One needs to include in their calculation of winning and losing whether their private data means anything to them.

Uber, for example, sucks from your phone access to your camera, all of your contacts, your location at all times, your microphone at all times, and the ability to dial or text from the phone itself.

At the same time, all of the people in your contacts have their privacy productized as well, involuntarily and silently.

The ride isn't the product. The riders are.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#223

Post by masonic »

cameldrv wrote: post #166
nostromo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fairly rude to make them wait at all. They're not being paid while they're waiting for you.

Somebody is going to wait for somebody. When you order the Uber, you don't know exactly when it will arrive, so if you don't want to make the driver wait, you have to go to the curb ahead of time and wait there. The implicit assumption is that the driver's time is more valuable than yours. I would very much like to have an option for the driver to simply be fairly compensated for their waiting time so that if I want…

  an option for the driver to simply be fairly compensated for their waiting time
Like a tip, you mean?

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#224

Post by brianpgordon »

burlesona wrote: post #100
justfor1comment wrote: post #80

Uber is getting more expensive with time as they try to consolidate losses. For my commute to work nowadays Express Pool costs the same as UberX did a year ago. And of course express pool includes overtly long sight seeing detours and dangerous pick up/drop off points. This is getting prohibitively expensive and I plan to switch to an electric scooter + public transit in a few months.

I highly recommmend the electric scooter. So fast and so fun. I got this one: https://ecorecoscooter.com/product/l5

I had that scooter and used it for my daily commute for a couple of years. The first time I hit a pothole, I shattered my clavicle and had to call an ambulance. The second – and last – time I hit a pothole, I broke my humerus in two places but was was able to take a Lyft to the emergency room. I completely lost the use of my right hand for a couple of months because swelling pinched off the nerves. Extremely inconvenient for someone who works in front of a computer.

I would strongly recommend that you not ride an electric scooter. Consider the diameter of the wheels. If you hit any pothole or rail or anything which has a lip higher than HALF the diameter of that little wheel, you're going to go flying over the handlebars. If you ride it every day for months or years, you're going to crash, no matter how careful you are, at least on SF streets.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#225

Post by jacquesm »

At this stage the only reason they are doing an IPO is to bail out the earlier investors. You'd be pretty stupid to buy Uber stock, my prediction is that it will make a nice 'pop' on opening day to ensure the underwriters get away with it and a swift crash after that when the bottom drops out and all lock up periods expire.

It's been done before.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#226

Post by masonic »

georgeecollins wrote: post #23

I don't know what to say about this because as a lifelong value investor I cannot accept the valuation of Uber based on it's earnings. But the same logic held me back from investing in Facebook and Google, which did not make any sense to me at the moment of their IPO. How do I decide what Uber's earnings will be in five years?

  at the moment of their IPO
Is a case of Facebook, you were wise to not buy at the IPO, given that their share price dropped almost in half in the subsequent months.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#227

Post by jessriedel »

sangnoir wrote: post #211
jessriedel wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you order an Uber, you are buying an included 2 minutes of wait time plus the option to pay by-the-minute for wait time thereafter. This is part of the contract. One way you can tell is that if they wait 90 seconds for you and then you cancel, you get a bill for ~$5. Shared rides (Uber Pool) is different. In that case, you're making other riders wait and, unlike the driver, there's no reasonable way to compensat…

It's entirely possible for something to be both legal and rude. In some jurisdictions, passers-by (e.g. hikers) have right-of-way on private land, yet not saying "hello" to the farmer whose land you're on would still be rude, should you cross paths.

I argued it isn't rude because it is part of your purchase, not because it is legal.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#228

Post by capsulecorp »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #165
capsulecorp wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progress won. It is infinitely easier, more affordable, transparent, convenient, and the overall experience of riding uber is hands down better than any Taxi experience I've ever had by a an extremely long shot, anyone I've spoken to agrees. Sure there are still improvements, but all in all, as a frequent user, I have to say getting a ride is hands down better with uber than before it.

Well it's easy to produce "progress" when you're willing to operate with massive losses fueled by other people's money. Take any customer experience that sucks and inject billions of dollars into it and lo and behold the experience improves mightly.

I can't speak to that, I didn't invest in UBER or follow its financials. I just enjoy the huge convenience and overall greatly improved experience they have provided me over using taxis, so that is the answer I provided.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#230

Post by Gibbon1 »

dehrmann wrote: post #204
dnautics wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst part of the medallion story was how the industry tricked the driver's into investing back into the medallion scheme, thereby becoming small time exploiters the next generation of drivers (n=2) and in any case winding up with often negative assets when the inflated price cratered. Meanwhile the owners of say ticker TAXI and their trust fund kids are probably doing just fine

I lay most of the blame for this with the NYC TLC for restricting medallions in the first place. The real way to reduce congestion is use fees, and it puts a natural cap on the number of taxis. Ideally, the fees are used on improvements to mass transit.

My take away from Uber and Lift was restricting the number of cabs was a mistake. Would have been better off all around to actually just partially subsidize them. And make buses/subways free.

I get a lot of flack for that position, my response is we heavily subsidize private cars.

Post reply on HN