5 ms·

How much capital does Uber have left? My understanding was that they only had a few billion dollars left and were burning > 1B a quarter. And they are still n

How much capital does Uber have left? My understanding was that they only had a few billion dollars left and were burning > 1B a quarter. And they are still not profitable right? On what basis exactly are they going to IPO? What's the angle for buying shares of a company that is losing so much money?

likeabbas 8y ago
You can take on debt to buyout another company
- dawhizkid 8y ago
  I doubt Uber is taking a loan to buy them. Probably mostly shares of Uber with some % in cash.
- emilsedgh 8y ago
  The article mentioned $1.4B in cash.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - mbesto 8y ago
    Cash in this sense means they're not giving away equity of Uber's cap table as means to finance the acquisition. Where the cash comes from is a different story. As the parent comment suggested, this "cash" is likely levered with outside capital.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
maxerickson 8y ago
For the principles at Uber, it's all other people's money, so why not try to get as much more of it as possible. For "investors", they are gambling that either the shares go up before they sell or that Uber builds a profitable business after they buy.
bagacrap 8y ago
Some individual markets are supposedly profitable.
googlemike 8y ago
$50b in revenue last year is nothing to scoff at. They have levers for profit but instead re-invest every dollar. Your argument sounds exactly like what people said about Amazon years ago.
- dmode 8y ago
  $50bn is total bookings, which is impressive. Revenue, I believe is $11bn runrate. But that doesn’t address cash flow depletion. I do believe they have runway though
  - quickthrower2 8y ago
    11bn revenue and runway used in the same sentence. The late 2010s are crazy times.
- ryan93 8y ago
  Try 11 Billion in revenue
- jussij 8y ago
  That $50b figure is not their revenue, but their gross bookings. For example Uber's last quarter revenue was $3 billion on some $14 billion in bookings, with a loss of about $800 million.
  - Gustomaximus 8y ago
    My understanding; $14 billion is revenue $3 billion is their earnings after driver costs.
    - jussij 8y ago
      Why that $14 billion can not be called revenue is Uber specifically structures it's business to make sure their drivers form no part of the business, instead they insist all their drivers are independent contractors. They do that specifically to reduce their running costs and hence maximize the profit on their actual revenue. That would be like saying all iPhone App developers are working for Apple, when in fact all Apple does is take 30% of each and ever dollar these App developer earn in sales. Likewise Uber just puts it's 30% Uber tax on every dollar it's drivers earn.
alphast0rm 8y ago
From Uber's Q4 2018 report [1]: Gross cash: $6.4 billion in unrestricted cash ($4.8 billion at end of Q3 2018, $4.4 billon in Q4 2017) [1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/15/uber-reports-3b-in-q4-revenue-rising-operating-losses/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/15/uber-reports-3b-in-q4-reve...

likeabbas 8y ago

You can take on debt to buyout another company

dawhizkid 8y ago
I doubt Uber is taking a loan to buy them. Probably mostly shares of Uber with some % in cash.
emilsedgh 8y ago
The article mentioned $1.4B in cash.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- mbesto 8y ago
  Cash in this sense means they're not giving away equity of Uber's cap table as means to finance the acquisition. Where the cash comes from is a different story. As the parent comment suggested, this "cash" is likely levered with outside capital.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

maxerickson 8y ago

For the principles at Uber, it's all other people's money, so why not try to get as much more of it as possible. For "investors", they are gambling that either the shares go up before they sell or that Uber builds a profitable business after they buy.

bagacrap 8y ago

Some individual markets are supposedly profitable.

googlemike 8y ago

$50b in revenue last year is nothing to scoff at. They have levers for profit but instead re-invest every dollar. Your argument sounds exactly like what people said about Amazon years ago.

dmode 8y ago
$50bn is total bookings, which is impressive. Revenue, I believe is $11bn runrate. But that doesn’t address cash flow depletion. I do believe they have runway though
- quickthrower2 8y ago
  11bn revenue and runway used in the same sentence. The late 2010s are crazy times.
ryan93 8y ago
Try 11 Billion in revenue
jussij 8y ago
That $50b figure is not their revenue, but their gross bookings. For example Uber's last quarter revenue was $3 billion on some $14 billion in bookings, with a loss of about $800 million.
- Gustomaximus 8y ago
  My understanding; $14 billion is revenue $3 billion is their earnings after driver costs.
  - jussij 8y ago
    Why that $14 billion can not be called revenue is Uber specifically structures it's business to make sure their drivers form no part of the business, instead they insist all their drivers are independent contractors. They do that specifically to reduce their running costs and hence maximize the profit on their actual revenue. That would be like saying all iPhone App developers are working for Apple, when in fact all Apple does is take 30% of each and ever dollar these App developer earn in sales. Likewise Uber just puts it's 30% Uber tax on every dollar it's drivers earn.

alphast0rm 8y ago

From Uber's Q4 2018 report [1]: Gross cash: $6.4 billion in unrestricted cash ($4.8 billion at end of Q3 2018, $4.4 billon in Q4 2017) [1] https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/15/uber-reports-3b-in-q4-revenue-rising-operating-losses/ https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/15/uber-reports-3b-in-q4-reve...