[ultraluminous]

I agree with the gist of you're saying, and I didn't personally dig into their last few fillings, but I suppose what the parent comment is trying to express can also be stated as "Uber's core ride-sharing business model is not cash flow positive", which can be obfuscated when arguing GAP vs EBITDA.

[lhorie]

Yeah, I get the insinuation and I'm responding to that: ignoring for a moment the thing about the proper definition of a ponzi scheme (sibling threads already go into that), the claim is more or less that Uber's business model bleeds cash unsustainably on core verticals to capture investor endearment, but that cash is limited and the party has to come to an end.

What I'm pointing out is that a) the argument about "duping investors" doesn't really make any sense anymore now that Uber is a public company (since raising VC rounds by giving them paper equity is no longer really a thing), b) the balance sheet numbers have been trending towards positive cash flow (and fairly aggressively, at that), even despite a pandemic that could accurately be described as the worst thing that could possibly happen in this industry segment and c) the core vertical (rides) is actually cash flow positive and funding other parts of the business.

[ultraluminous]

Thank you for the informative reply. I definitely agree on all counts, especially re "ponzy" etc. I think that the pandemic forced the entire sector to focus on profitability and cut most loss-leading initiatives, so hearing they're trending towards core profitability makes sense!