FTA: Not only did that fraud end up screwing over the retail investors who made the Saudis and the other early investors a pile of money after the company’s IP

FTA: Not only did that fraud end up screwing over the retail investors who made the Saudis and the other early investors a pile of money after the company’s IPO – but it also destroyed the legitimate taxi business and convinced cities all over the world to starve their transit systems of investment because Uber seemed so much cheaper. Uber continues to hemorrhage money, resorting to cheap accounting tricks to make it seem like they’re finally turning it around, even as they double the price of rides and halve driver pay (and still lose money on every ride). The market can remain irrational longer than any of us can stay solvent, but when Uber runs out of suckers, it will go the way of other pump-and-dumps like WeWork. -- Enumerating the manifest harms doesn't mean you didn't enjoy cheap rides for a time, it's not all or nothing. "Cheap rides" do have a measurable cost to others and society. In addition to the ills cited here one could add many others, not least of which was the elevation of a grotesque ethos of "breaking things" (i.e. evading any legal obligation or social responsibility until regulators and critics, viewed with contempt, "catch up"), and notably distilled down douche-bag toxic tech-bro culture. Both of which still tarnish and retard our industry.