Uber CEO balks after a reporter tells him the cost of his 2.9-mile Uber ride: ‘Oh my God. Wow.’::undefined

  • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    51
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    Uber’s net profit for the twelve months ending March 31st, 2023 was $-3.36bn. That’s negative 3.36 billion dollars. They posted their first ever operating profit today. August 1st, 2023.

    So yeah, really cool company. Not at all some sort of horrifying demon of modern capitalism…

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      ·
      1 year ago

      Pretty sure Uber’s sole existence is owed to cheap debt and a bubble in venture capital. Them and WeWork soaked investors for all they were worth and never gave a flying fig about profitability because there was always some one willing to float a cheap loan

      • fidodo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        They got investment because they were building a monopoly first. It really just tells you how valuable monopolies are if it wasn’t obvious enough already. It’s more reason why we can’t let monopolies happen.

        • Regna@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 year ago

          Like Amazon, which only had net losses for several years (from 1994 to 2002) in order to focus on aggressive growth and outcompeting other similar services by setting excessively low prices on books and media.

      • bob_wiley@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Maybe with interest rates going up we’ll see more realistic valuations in the Valley and startups with actually business ideas instead of just ideas.