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Leaked Documents Suggests Uber Is 'Losing Millions'
New submitter DaneTerry88 points out an article about the financial state of Uber, poster child for the sharing economy. Documents leaked to Gawker seem to indicate the company is still far from profitable, despite its popularity. "They show operating losses of more than $100m (£65m) in the second quarter of 2014, albeit coupled with steady growth in revenue." Uber did not deny the leak, but pointed out they are still building the business, which requires a lot of investment. The company has been valued as high as $50 billion, and only a few days ago received a $100 million investment from Microsoft.
They've already shown they can grow profits regularly
[citation needed] with real, independently audited financial reports. What we see in TFA is exactly the opposite.
where they are allowed to operate
And where's that? They've been sued, fined and banned in all large markets. I know some detail about Uber pricing in two locations, and in both, the difference between the Uber taxi and all other taxis in both markets is just a little less than the difference between what taxi companies and individual licensed taxi drivers pay in license fees, insurance and taxes. That's it. Once they are required to play on a level field, they're gone.
All the other mumbo-jumbo in your comment is beyond ridiculous. What infrastructure, they have two apps, a few servers and a management interface, that stopped being an infrastructure problem about 2001.
Who rated this tripe Insightful?
Uber has a ton of infrastructure investment - it's mostly been clearing the way for the company to exist, legally speaking. They've already shown they can grow profits regularly where they are allowed to operate, so that is a way bigger deal than people are allowing for.
Not quite sure how they can be "growing profits" if the company is not yet operating in the black to start with.
User's infrastructure was MUCH HARDER to build out than Amazon's, which is just code and servers... Uber had to deal with real people - and not just people, but government officials.
"Amazon is just code and servers" -- I'll remember that next time the I hear about their sprawling warehouses around the world. And I guess they were able to begin operations in all those places without talking to a single government official, right? Not to mention the ~150,000 people they employ -- directly with W-2's, not as "contractors" as Uber likes to use to skirt many employment regulations. And that drone thing? Nah, FAA just preemptively mailed them their blessing for testing -- no interaction on Amazon's part needed there.