
Is Uber the Next Webvan? Will Uber Go Bankrupt? - miralabs
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/01/22/is-uber-the-next-webvan-will-uber-go-out-of-bankrupt/
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rdlecler1
This is a bad analogy. Webvan failed because they had huge CAPEX needs. In
contrast, Uber has relatively low overhead requirements but they are spending
heavily on immediate and future growth. They doubled revenue from Q1 to Q3
which is incredible. Sure, costs nearly doubled but they're not buying cars,
they're not carrying drivers as employees, they don't need office space and
warehouses in every city they operate in. The fact that Lyft burns through
less money is an indication that Uber is pushing for growth over
profitability. Finally, they just need to dominate the market long enough for
driverless cars to become a reality. At that point their profit margin with
2x-5x and it will be easy to finance the cars with debt.

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SilasX
Loss numbers, based in the experience with Amazon, are hard to parse, since
people (sometimes, for whatever reason), don't distinguish
expansion/investment expenses (basically optional) and operating expenses. I
can't tell if these numbers are doing the same.

It makes a big difference whether your losses come from investment to expand,
or from not charging enough to cover costs where you already operate.

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TRUTHY56
it is worth knowing that the author of the article John Furrier is not a great
researcher. he and his team normally spin out articles without proper research
and this article about uber is just a clickbait one from someone who is too
lazy to delve deep into facts.

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thorpus
Man, I can't imagine a world without Uber but that math is tough.

