4 ms·

What is a "real economic loss"? A real economic loss is a realized loss. As long as Uber and WeWork are not closed down, their future performance is hard to pr

• wpietri 7y ago
  Sure, they're hard to predict, which is what makes Softbank's behavior here amazing. They're saying that by their own (surely optimistic) predictions, even they can't justify not declaring a loss. As to a financial analysis of Uber, you're confusing some things. Uber did invent the summon-a-limo-with-your phone thing, so they get credit there. They didn't invent the rideshare model, but they did raise the most money to crush their competition and they were the most aggressive about committing crimes, so they currently have the biggest market share. But all of that's ancient history. The real question for financial valuation is whether they can sustain that business once they stop burning investor money to get ahead. And I think there's good reason to believe that it will never be a particularly profitable business. Since Uber's valuation is built on being able to one day extract oligopoly rents from a large sector, it's perfectly possible that 10 years from now they'll be the next Groupon: once the new hotness, but with the stock now trading at 10% of its peak.
• bpt3 7y ago
  Of course you love Uber as a user, each ride you take is subsidized by their investors and it's generally a better experience than finding a taxi. Why an investor would love this arrangement is not clear to me.