
Uber CEO investigated over allegations of fraud in price-fixing case - century19
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/08/uber-price-fixing-lawsuit-ceo-travis-kalanick-spencer-meyer
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Gabriel-Lewis
Unsavory business practices at Uber? No way...

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gmarx
How is it price fixing? Wouldn't he need to conspire with Lyft and the local
taxi companies?

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zaroth
The lawsuit alleges the price fixing is between Uber and Uber drivers. Of
course it is obviously true that Uber sets the price for its drivers. I agree
it's a bit odd.

I think it's just an alternate play on the contractor vs. employee argument.
Since Uber drivers are not employees I guess it's possible that anti-price-
fixing statues might somehow apply. I would imagine that if drivers were
employees then this line of attack would be bunk.

It's ironic that, if anything, prices are being fixed _below_ market rate, not
above it.

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gmarx
They also vary the pricing based on current supply and demand. So this implies
that they automatically fix the price at a point in time for the small set of
drivers who are registered with uber and 5-10 minutes away. They notify (I
assume) "off duty" drivers nearby that the price has gone up and as more
drivers get on the road they then re-fix the price for the small set of
drivers who are 5-10 minutes away?

