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by njj023 3128 days ago
Winners besides Lyft? Their financials are on-par if not worse - https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/14/unpacking-lyfts-projected-...

Part of Uber's increased losses are stemming directly from massive burn on Lyfts end to try and capitalize on Uber's problems.

1 comments

How is 1.5B a quarter on-par or worse than 750M per year?
An apples to apples comparison would standardize across:

1. GAAP v.s. non GAAP. Different media sites are reporting between 1.5B and 750B for Uber because of this discrepancy.

2. Timelines - Uber numbers are from Q3. Lyft from H1

3. Size discrepancies - it's better to look at loss per trip given that Uber is far bigger.

You're still mixing different time period sizes in 1. I think even size adjusted per ride, Lyft may still be in a better position. 6B vs 750M (more if using newer numbers) when the market ratio of Lyft is nearing a third means that unless their yearly losses are over 2B, they still have the edge.

Overall I agree somewhat, but when what matters is explicitly runway (who can survive the longest), scaling for size may not make sense. Lyft's smaller current size might actually advantage them in this marathon.