>I suppose VCs tolerate it because when the competitors are down and out, the rewards will be huge. That's only remotely possible if the barrier to entry is hi

>I suppose VCs tolerate it because when the competitors are down and out, the rewards will be huge. That's only remotely possible if the barrier to entry is high. It's not, if Uber hikes prices to the point where they are pulling insane profits over drivers competition will enter easily. The only way burning cash makes sense for Uber is eventually going to self driving car fleets - this is much harder to compete on and you can have efficiency based monopoly trough tech.