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Uber Spent $10.7 Billion in Nine Years. Does It Have Enough to Show for It? (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: What makes Uber Technologies the most valuable venture-backed technology company in the world? Investors say size and growth. The business is transforming global transportation networks. On closer inspection of its financial performance, Uber also pioneered a very expensive way of establishing a market and staying on top. Uber has had little trouble finding investors eager to buy into its vision. It relishes telling backers about gross bookings, or the amount riders pay for service. That number is enormous, totaling $37 billion last year. But most of that goes to drivers. Uber's cut, or net revenue, came to $7.4 billion. Compared to public companies with similar valuations, Uber's revenue lags well behind. At the same time, Uber has worked to downplay its persistent losses. Because the company doesn't disclose financial results with much consistency, it's easy to lose sight of how much of investors' money Uber has spent. Since its founding nine years ago, Uber has burned through about $10.7 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Over the past decade, only one public technology company in North America lost more in a year than Uber lost in 2017. None has burned such a tremendous amount in the first stage of its life, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
I'm going to get modded down to oblivion, but I'm going to say something good about Uber. I don't use it much in the US, but used to live in Manila, Philippines and travel there about once per year. Having Uber there has been a godsend for me. The taxis there are often nasty and in poor repair, the drivers see an American and half the time start in on how their meter is broken, and, in general, they are a pain in the ass to hail unless you are at a mall and willing to stand in a long line.
Uber works well for me and for my wife when she's there (also American, BTW), an order of magnitude better than taxis. The rates are low enough that I almost always tip significantly above the fare. Some of our staff over there do the "side hustle" thing and enjoy making the extra money.
I know that my experience isn't everybody else's; and Uber in the US is a different beast. Uber absolutely needs to take proactive action regarding background checks and I know that will raise the price. It will still be better than the taxis, at least in Manila.
Let's strip the article summary of distracting commentary and just show the most important revenue numbers used against Uber...
...last year... Uber's...net revenue, came to $7.4 billion.... Since its founding nine years ago, Uber has burned through about $10.7 billion...
So, Uber spent $10.7 billion over 9 years and now they make $7.4 billion in net revenue every single year. Where's the problem here?
This author stuck a bunch of fluff between big numbers hoping you would just remember the big numbers and not the context between them.