[hmhrex]

I thought the big selling point for Lyft for awhile is that there profitability wasn't dependent on shifting to autonomous vehicles, where Uber's was. This seemed to make drivers move to Lyft because they felt they had more job security. Was that just perceived?

[grandmczeb]

I’ve never heard anything like that. As far as I know, the only difference between Uber and Lyft is in strategy (Uber being much more aggressive about expansion). Regardless, it’s likely Uber would be profitable right now, even without self driving cars, if they stopped expanding into new markets.

[romed]

That seems like a highly questionable statement demanding some evidence. Perhaps you meant if they retrenched into existing markets while raising prices and laying off all of their business development staff?

[grandmczeb]

See [1]: "we can turn the knobs to get this business even on a full basis profitable, but you would sacrifice growth and sacrifice innovation" and "He said that it’s Uber’s commitment to 'developing' markets that are dragging things down, but he views that as an 'optional investment'". I'm not and have never been an Uber employee, but I've heard very similar things from people who are. Not great evidence, but hopefully that explains my opinion.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/14/uber-could-be-profitable-i...

[slackoverflower]

Uber definitely has the levers to become profitable anytime they want since they are entrenched in hundreds of major cities in the world. At the end of the day they control the supply and demand of their own platform and most Uber users will pay whatever the price is since they have been a necessity in many of their user's lives.

[ghaff]

>most Uber users will pay whatever the price

So Uber is charging their current rates as a way of giving back to the community or whatever? If Uber (or even Uber and Lyft) were to double their prices tomorrow there would most certainly be a drop in volume. Just a couple of days ago I took a Lyft from the airport for no other reason than that a cab would cost about 2x. Yes, there are also circumstances and places in which Uber/Lyft is demonstrably better than a cab but the decision can also just be about who is cheapest.

[Animats]

Uber is funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.[1] Softbank's Vision Fund is mostly a front for the Kingdom. That may be more of a political move than a financial one.

Even that wasn't enough money. Uber recently borrowed another $2 billion at 7.5 to 8% for 5-8 years.

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber/funding_rounds/...

[kevin_thibedeau]

They don't have to raise prices. Just cut superfluous headcount by 70%. Instant profitability.