4 ms·

Didn't lyft itself say they have no idea if they can get to profitability? Wouldn't it make more sense to short lyft than invest in them? Ridesharing companies

Didn't lyft itself say they have no idea if they can get to profitability? Wouldn't it make more sense to short lyft than invest in them? Ridesharing companies have been burning through investor money, and having a VERY hard time showing any real profits on the books, and with self-driving cars, the manufacturers will become their own rideshare, and likely change the model of car ownership to one of cars on demand.

philwelch 8y ago
> with self-driving cars, the manufacturers will become their own rideshare, and likely change the model of car ownership to one of cars on demand You're assuming that manufacturers would do this instead of selling (or even leasing) the cars to companies like Lyft and Uber directly. I don't think this is a sound assumption. Most industries separate operations from manufacturing--shipyards and shipping companies are separate companies; aircraft manufacturing and airlines are separate companies; locomotive manufacturers and railroads are separate companies. If Lyft can barely break even long enough to survive to the invention of self-driving cars, they will be the ones providing cars on demand because that's what they already do.
stefan_ 8y ago
Every public company ever files a description of risks that are then turned by media into "X could implode tomorrow". You could short Lyft, but do you have enough money to wait out the people that just saw them raise 20 billion?
bsder 8y ago
> Wouldn't it make more sense to short lyft than invest in them? Lyft beat Uber to IPO and raised a bunch of money. If Lyft's stock tanks, Uber will get an extremely depressed IPO and raise far less money while having a far higher burn rate. This could possibly cause Uber to collapse before Lyft and leave Lyft as the remaining big player in the space. In short, the market is likely to remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
- jquery 8y ago
  Lyft’s stock tanking is good for Lyft... what a doozy. As an Uber employee I’m glad that’s the case, it’ll help prevent it from tanking :)
  - bsder 8y ago
    > Lyft’s stock tanking is good for Lyft... what a doozy. It's not "good". It's "less bad". And, the really interesting question is if Uber implodes and leaves the field to Lyft, can Lyft actually take advantage of that? That's not at all clear, either. So, it may simply be that Uber leaves a bigger impact crater before Lyft does.

philwelch 8y ago

> with self-driving cars, the manufacturers will become their own rideshare, and likely change the model of car ownership to one of cars on demand You're assuming that manufacturers would do this instead of selling (or even leasing) the cars to companies like Lyft and Uber directly. I don't think this is a sound assumption. Most industries separate operations from manufacturing--shipyards and shipping companies are separate companies; aircraft manufacturing and airlines are separate companies; locomotive manufacturers and railroads are separate companies. If Lyft can barely break even long enough to survive to the invention of self-driving cars, they will be the ones providing cars on demand because that's what they already do.

stefan_ 8y ago

Every public company ever files a description of risks that are then turned by media into "X could implode tomorrow". You could short Lyft, but do you have enough money to wait out the people that just saw them raise 20 billion?

bsder 8y ago

> Wouldn't it make more sense to short lyft than invest in them? Lyft beat Uber to IPO and raised a bunch of money. If Lyft's stock tanks, Uber will get an extremely depressed IPO and raise far less money while having a far higher burn rate. This could possibly cause Uber to collapse before Lyft and leave Lyft as the remaining big player in the space. In short, the market is likely to remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.

jquery 8y ago
Lyft’s stock tanking is good for Lyft... what a doozy. As an Uber employee I’m glad that’s the case, it’ll help prevent it from tanking :)
- bsder 8y ago
  > Lyft’s stock tanking is good for Lyft... what a doozy. It's not "good". It's "less bad". And, the really interesting question is if Uber implodes and leaves the field to Lyft, can Lyft actually take advantage of that? That's not at all clear, either. So, it may simply be that Uber leaves a bigger impact crater before Lyft does.