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

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    60
    ·
    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
      31
      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
        15
        ·
        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.

      • Whirlybird
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Being the first to market with a new and disruptive idea doesn’t make you a monopoly that needs to be broken up.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        It was a sound business idea though. Just a shitty investment idea.

        The owners/founders made shitloads off it (at the expense of investors.)

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            oh, yeah. the gig economy and the startups that exploit is genuinely awful. Can’t say I feel bad for the duped investors, though. They invested in a genuinely shitty company. so. heh.