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by roarktoohey 4218 days ago
"Also, considering the company’s huge profits, Uber owes it to the little guys doing their driving to provide much better software..."

Is it typical for reporters to confuse profits with revenue? None of the decks I've seen show profits, I've always assumed that my rides are subsidized by VC money.
2 comments
frostmatthew 4218 days ago
> Is it typical for reporters to confuse profits with revenue?

The author isn't a reporter (or, at the very least, she's new to it). Claire Callahan Goodman is a Bay Area native from a large family, whose careers have included Classical Musician, Software Engineer and Mom.[1]

[1] http://www.salon.com/writer/claire_callahan_goodman/

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good_claire 4205 days ago
Author here - no, I am not a reporter, but I know the difference between profits, net, VC, and the difference between a privately and publicly-held company. That said, since UBER is privately held, no one can say what they are "worth" (a term which also has many interpretations).

The article published in Salon was a draft I sent them and they ran with it. Once I knew they were interested, I did a lot more research and number crunching, assuming they would want more facts and detail. They didn't change a thing! They published the article in their "Life" section. I think this section is reserved for non-reporters writing about life experiences and that's why they didn't require expert fact-checking. I do agree that no one knows who gets paid what in the upper-echelons of UBER - but I would guess it's a LOT.

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ytNumbers 4218 days ago
With their current gross revenue growth rates, some are speculating that in a couple of years their annual net profits will be more than $1 billion dollars.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-revenue-2014-11

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frostmatthew 4218 days ago
> their annual net profits will be more than $1 billion dollars.

Where do you see that from the article you linked? It says So $10 billion of gross revenue would equate to $2 billion of net revenue. To have profits of over $1B on $2B of revenue would mean a profit margin of over 50%!

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berkay 4218 days ago
Why do you think Uber is about to raise funding with ~$40 billion valuation? They don't have profits now because they are investing in growth.
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