I have more faith in Amazon taking this marke, considering their past performance in other marketsâ penetration 
Thats true. Automation is coming the question is who will be first.
Uber is an interesting stock thatâs currently overvalued. However, I wouldnât touch it until the 180 days freeze period for IPO subscriber/employees/founders etc has passed. These guys will tank the price like there is no tomorrow. This will be a good moment to start loading up if you believe in the project.
This is very good strategy!
Itâs early days for this but this could be a good move for Uber. As the story says, it could increase driver loyalty to their service. I wonder if they can make it easier for drivers to purchase their cars here too.
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Uber to Cut About 400 Employees, Citing âMediocre Resultsâ
Bloomberg - Are you a robot? - âMany of our teams are too big, which creates overlapping work, makes for unclear decision owners, and can lead to mediocre resultsâ
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In Southeast Asia, ride hailing âstartupsâ like Grab (Uber gave up its business there for a major stake in Grab) and GoJek also provide e-payments. They have essentially become super apps. You preload the app with money and use it as a cash cardâget rewards in return. In Indonesia, GoJek became a bank for millions of unbanked people. I have used both and it makes sense there. Uber seems to be copying them. But will it work in the West?
I also went once to a presentation by an ex-Nasa (I think) guy who is leading Uber Air. I think he was talking about flights between San Jose and San Francisco. But can that, as well as the Level 5 fully self-driving project, save the company. The latter was a priority for the previous CEO but is very hard to implement nationally, even for Alphabetâs Waymo.
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Yeah, it looks like itâll be in Dallas, LA and an international city.
Very interested to see which city that is.
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Earnings call is coming on Thursday. 
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Uber Eats 
:
- Uber Eats strengthens marketplace liquidity: In Q2 2019, Uber Eats Monthly Active Platform Consumers (MAPCs) grew over 140% year-over-year. Over 40% of new Eats consumers had never used Uberâs platform before. Uber Eats restaurant selection continues to improve, reaching 320,000 restaurant partners at the end of Q2 2019. New delivery fees (service and small-basket fees) resulted in improved Adjusted Net Revenue take rates quarter-over-quarter.
Self-driving thing 
:
- Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) makes technological progress: We unveiled our first production car capable of self-driving with Volvoâs newest XC90 SUV, which is designed with a chassis ready to integrate ATGâs self-driving system direct from the factory.
Overall, a crappy quarter for a potentially overvalued business but who knows.
Massive paper losses (net loss) and cash burn on the operating side (negative 1.6 billion US$ in 6 months):
Full 2Q 2019 report here (Form 10-Q):
https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001543151/bd9b0094-72bd-4c11-ba7f-3b9eeae9ebe2.html
Good news though if youâre a property agent in the Bay Area - seasoned Slack, Lyft and Uber employees are looking for new homes.
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They give away good free swag to software engineers, Iâd give them 5 stars just for that.
Driver classification
There are new developments that are kind of important for Uber, Lyft and all the other gig-economy companies that have massive operations in the US.
These tech (or âtechâ) companies made it convenientâand sometimes cheaperâfor its users to get a taxi or have food delivered.
Remove the friction out of the equation.
On the other side of the transactions were the providers of services who got paid less than the market. Uber and others would incentivise drivers to fill the streets by paying them bonuses.
But we, as users, always got the better end of the deal.
Meanwhile, valuations of these startups ballooned. And also thank you SoftBank Vision Fund.
And if you have ever asked Uber drivers about bonuses from Uber, you have probably regretted asking them about Uber bonuses. They used to be higher and SoftBank and other investors may have paid for that form of ride subsidy.
This study from EPI says average pay of Uber drivers is USD 9.21 an hour:
The Uber driver W-2 equivalent hourly wage falls below the mandated minimum wage in the majority of major Uber urban markets
This revised study by MITâas reported by Incâsays the medium pay is about USD 10 an hour.
Forty-one percent of drivers made less than their stateâs minimum wage and 4 percent lost money.
If Uber or Lyft or who-else starts paying their drivers normal wages plus âunpaid fair wagesâ, what do you think will happen to General & Administrative or Operations & Support expenses (see below):
(from the S-1 filings)
Neither Uber nor Lyft were (are?) making an operating profit (as in, with a plus sign next to it) before you could even adjust it for weird items and depreciation/amortisation (to make it an âEBITDAâ that analysts like talking about).
Lyft warned under Risk Factors in its S-1 pre-IPO filing what would happen to its business if it has to classify drivers as employeesâmonetary exposure, claims, claims, charges, other claimsâŠ:
Always read the Risk Factors section.
AB5
On Friday, California state senators on the appropriations committee voted for Assembly Bill 5 â a bill designed to improve the livelihood of gig economy workers at companies like Uber and Lyft, whose business models depend on independent contractors who often suffer inconsistent wages and little or no benefits.
The vote brings the bill one step closer to becoming a law, one which has the potential to completely remake Californiaâs gig economy to make it more equitable for workers. Lawmakers voted 5-2 to send the bill to the Senate floor, which will be the final vote.
(Source â Salon)
In the S-1 filing pre-IPO, Uber warned that:
It will also fundamentally change Uber and Lyft. Uber phrases it this way: the bill would âdrastically change the rideshare experience as youâve come to know it, and would limit Uberâs ability to connect you with the dependable rides youâve come to expect.â
If this sounds like a dire prediction, itâs meant as such. Uber and Lyft are facing an existential threat in AB5. And theyâre losing.
(Source - The Verge)
âŠthe companies have all but accepted that AB 5 will pass and the governor will sign it. Their focus is now on a second bill that creates an alternative employment category for gig workers.
(Source - LA Times):
but
⊠Gonzalez predicted a separate bill would fail because the labor movement is divided. âI will fight against any third classification of workers,â she said, adding she has ânot heard one thing from any of my colleagues about exempting the gig economy.â
(Source - LA Times)
Whatâs that other bill?
The ride-hailing companies said Thursday they will commit $60 million to fund a statewide initiative aimed at the 2020 ballot to create an alternate classification for drivers that would include some employee protections and a guaranteed minimum pay. Later, delivery service DoorDash said it would commit an additional $30 million.
(Source - LA Times)
(Source - Lyft S-1 filing)
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uber still says its drivers arenât employees:
- California lawmakers passed a landmark bill on Wednesday that threatens to reshape how companies like Uber and Lyft do business.
- The legislation, known as Assembly Bill 5, would require gig economy workers to be reclassified as employees instead of contractors.
- The bill has received support from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and would go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.
- Uber on Wednesday argued that the law would not apply to its business.
âŠ
The bill has the potential to change the employment status of more than 1 million low-wage workers in California, not just gig workers at companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. It will make it harder for gig economy companies to prove that their workers arenât staff, while ensuring key benefits and protections, like minimum wage, insurance and sick days.
Source - CNBC
via @saf
This is why startups should list directly.
The proposals from US banks suggested Uber seek a valuation much higher than the $76bn it was valued at in August during its most recent fundraising round.
Current market cap is $50.5 billion.
Uber used to be perceived as a cool company with a tech vision.
Now itâs just a boring company with a fading decal on the laptop that says âself-driving and flying cars and other betsâ:
Bicycles, scooters, helicopter rides, groceries⊠Growth through acquisitions when the core business is stalling is a 
.
EditâUPDATE:
More layoffs at Uber.
Expecting some highly-skilled people in the self-driving car âATGâ division to start jumping ship because of the value of stock options and morale. Thereâre plenty of companies there working on the same challenges, including Lyftâs âLevel 5â.
This flying car thing is still in the works though:
Wouldnât touch Uber with a barge pole right now, until they can put together a proper case for profitability. At the end of the day it doesnât matter how much you are growing revenues if your losses are growing in tandem! Eventually that investor money is going run out.
That being said, these guys have been a real game changer in terms of how we use taxis in most cities and one would have thought there was a sensible business model lying underneath all of the hype and dot-com-bubble reminiscent madness. Iâll be keeping a bit of a watch on them but i wont be going near until they start showing signs of heading towards being cash flow positive!
So the stock lockup will be ending next week, there will probably be a massive sell off. The only issue is there is very little volume in the markets right now so there may be an issue with liquidity. After all there needs to be buyers if someone is selling and where are they all going to come from?
e-Scooters are pure tech. Just like Uber. And Uber and Lyft run e-scooter businesses. Also - bikes. All of which need to be constantly maintained. Thatâs the opposite of a having scalable software-based business.
Yesterday The Information reported that Lime, an American scooter unicorn, expects to post an operating loss of over $300 million against gross revenue of around $420 million. The same report also details select unit economic data that weâll examine.
The Lime news is not the first expected or reported scooter-induced loss that weâve covered this year. Recall that Bird, a key Lime rival, posted a roughly $100 million lossagainst $15 million in revenue during the first quarter; the loss was boosted by a writeoff and the revenue hit by seasonality making the ensuing deficit appear worse than it might under less irksome circumstances.
Instead, after rocketing into the unicorn club â a private valuation of $1 billion is all you need for entry â Lime and Bird have managed continued growth, but havenât yet beat back skepticism regarding their business model.
Itâs going to take a pretty penny for Lime to get there if it can. Bird is in the same boat. Crunchbase data indicates that Bird has raised $275 million to date. Lime an even more impressive $765 million. Thatâs well north of $1 billion between the two firms. Capital that has likely largely been spent.
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Market cap: USD 52 billion.
Uberâs stock lockup is also set to expire this week, meaning many employees will likely be cashing in their shares soon. On the call with analysts, CFO Nelson Chai said the company has had âgood and constructive dialogue with long term shareholders,â but ultimately doesnât know what will happen to the stock on Wednesday.
