| Fuel: not Uber's problem. Any solutions/advances benefit all market participants equally. Cars: also not Uber's problem. Any solutions/advances benefit all market participants equally. Salary: very much Uber's problem. Also Lyft's problem. And Didi's problem. And a taxi industry problem. Self driving tech will solve this problem in time. So the first two will improve over time. The third impacts every player in the market. Seeing that there is a definite need and this market isn't going to go away, it seems like Naked Capitalism is focusing on the wrong problem (or is focusing on the right problem if the problem is how to drive clicks. The right problem is who in this market that isn't going away is going to be the best at optimizing for utilization of fixed cost assets (cars), variable costs (fuel/energy) and gets enough IP in the self driving car space to have a defensive patent portfolio. Uber is really the only player that has a strong presence in multiple markets in addition to human transportation. They have food delivery, courier services, long-haul transportation. I wouldn't be surprised if they go after UPS/FedEx and Instacart at some point. The more diversified they are, the better the utilization they can achieve. To me that suggests that they can play the subsidization game against everyone else much more competively since instead of subsidies, they can provide their contractors with more opportunities to earn when behind the wheel. To date, I have yet to hear a single argument why Uber is doomed that doesn't apply equally to every competitor. The only way I can see Uber being doomed is if the ridesharing market is doomed. That said, I'd love to hear more arguments about why the entire market might be doomed or why the future might favor Tesla's approach or why one of the other competitors in the market has a better shot. I don't see it. Uber near as I can tell is Amazon, Part Deux. This biggest question on my mind iswhen investors for all these ridesharing companies tire of this war of attrition and no longer want to subsidize the purchase of market share. When that happens, Uber won't be the only company that needs to raise prices by stopping subsidization. Again, I would love to hear more arguments that aren't simply driven by dislike for Uber by some astroturfing comment army. |