So-called ‘ridesharing’ · Bezzle

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Bezzle

Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Fig. 2. Uber driver Boubacar Sow drives in New York. Photograph by Kevin Hagan via the Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019,^[1] fair use.

See also:

• Revised MIT Study Says Uber, Lyft Drivers Make About $8 or $10 per Hour
• Uber pledges to shift to ‘100 percent’ electric vehicles by 2030
• Self-Driving Cars Have a Problem: Safer Human-Driven Ones

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Yves Smith, “Uber Is Headed for a Crash,” New York, December 4, 2018, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/will-uber-survive-the-next-decade.html

Julia Carrie Wong, “Disgruntled drivers and ‘cultural challenges’: Uber admits to its biggest risk factors,” Guardian, April 12, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/11/uber-ipo-risk-factors

Patrick Howell O’Neill, “Just In Time For Its Big IPO, Uber Loses $1 Billion,” Gizmodo, April 26, 2019, https://gizmodo.com/just-in-time-for-its-big-ipo-uber-loses-1-billion-1834331980

Eliot Brown, “Uber Wants to Be the Uber of Everything—But Can It Make a Profit?” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-wants-to-be-the-uber-of-everything-11556909866

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Georgia Wells, “Uber Cites Tight Competition After Posting $1 Billion Loss,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-first-quarter-loss-tops-1-billion-11559246846

Edward Helmore, “Will Uber ever make money? Day of reckoning looms for ride-sharing firm,” Guardian, August 4, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/uber-ride-share-lyft-ipo-earnings

Eliot Brown, “Lyft Raises 2019 Revenue Outlook and Sees Smaller Annual Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyfts-raises-2019-revenue-outlook-and-sees-smaller-annual-loss-11565208387

Eliot Brown, “Uber Posts Its Largest Quarterly Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-posts-its-largest-ever-quarterly-loss-11565295373

Timothy B. Lee, “Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires,” Ars Technica, August 9, 2019, https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/08/uber-freezes-engineering-hires-amid-mounting-losses/

Rich Alton, “Basic economics means Uber and Lyft can’t rely on driverless cars to become profitable,” MarketWatch, August 12, 2019, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/basic-economics-means-uber-and-lyft-cant-rely-on-driverless-cars-to-become-profitable-2019-08-12

Annie Palmer, “Uber falls to all-time low as investors grow more skeptical,” CNBC, August 12, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/uber-stock-falls-to-all-time-low-as-investors-grow-more-skeptical.html

Richard Durant, “Uber’s Profitability Problem Is Structural,” Seeking Alpha, August 21, 2019, https://seekingalpha.com/article/4287055-ubers-profitability-problem-structural

Stephen Wilmot, “Uber’s Long Road to Profits,” Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-long-road-to-profits-11566471068

Michael Wursthorn, “Lyft Shares Rally on Hopes Price Increases Will Drive Profit,” Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-shares-rally-on-hopes-price-increases-will-drive-profits-11566845457

Faiz Siddiqui, “Internal data shows Uber’s reputation hasn’t changed much since #DeleteUber,” Washington Post, August 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/29/even-after-ubers-ipo-long-shadow-deleteuber-still-looms/

Megan Rose Dickey, “Uber lays off 435 people across engineering and product teams,” TechCrunch, September 10, 2019, https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/10/uber-lays-off-435-people-across-engineering-and-product-teams/

Heather Somerville and Mark Maurer, “Uber Cuts More Than 400 Technical Jobs,” Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-cuts-more-than-400-technical-jobs-11568144111

Heather Somerville, “Uber Shedding About 350 Jobs to Shore Up Business,” Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-shedding-about-350-jobs-to-shore-up-business-11571092680

Tom McKay, “Surprising No One, Uber Continues to Hemorrhage Cash,” Gizmodo, November 4, 2019, https://gizmodo.com/surprising-no-one-uber-continues-to-hemorrhage-cash-1839625062

Heather Somerville, “Uber Booked Another Quarterly Loss as Revenue Climbed,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-booked-another-quarterly-loss-as-revenue-climbed-11572901549

Megan McArdle, “Uber can’t keep bleeding money, can it? It apparently thinks it can,” Washington Post, November 5, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/uber-cant-keep-bleeding-money-can-it-it-apparently-thinks-it-can/2019/11/05/4aa4fec0-000b-11ea-8501-2a7123a38c58_story.html

Erik Sherman, “Yesterday, Shareholders Bailed on Uber. Today, Insiders Got Their Chance,” Fortune, November 6, 2019, https://fortune.com/2019/11/06/uber-stock-insiders-growth-profit-lockup-period/

Sebastian Herrera and Heather Somerville, “Uber Shares Hit New Low as Post-IPO Lockup Expires,” Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-shares-face-more-pressure-as-post-ipo-lockup-is-set-to-expire-11573041602″

Hubert Horan, “Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Twenty-Two: Profits and Cash Flow Keep Deteriorating as Uber’s GAAP Losses Hit $8.5 Billion,” Naked Capitalism, February 7, 2020, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-two-profits-and-cash-flow-keep-deteriorating-as-ubers-gaap-losses-hit-8-5-billion.html

Preetika Rana, “Uber Ridership Fails to Recover as Pandemic Drives Another Big Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-ridership-fails-to-recover-as-pandemic-drives-another-big-loss-11596744389

Laura Forman, “Uber, Lyft Face a No-Sharing Economy,” Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-lyft-face-a-no-sharing-economy-11603710180

Kirsten Korosec, “Uber in talks to sell ATG self-driving unit to Aurora,” TechCrunch, November 13, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/13/uber-in-talks-to-sell-atg-self-driving-unit-to-aurora/

Heather Somerville, “Uber Sells Self-Driving-Car Unit to Autonomous-Driving Startup,” Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-sells-self-driving-car-unit-to-autonomous-driving-startup-11607380167

Matthew Beedham, “Uber: Is this the beginning of the end for the ride-hailing Goliath?” Next Web, March 2, 2021, https://thenextweb.com/shift/2021/03/02/uber-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-ride-hailing-goliath/

Aarian Marshall, “Gig Companies Fear a Worker Shortage, Despite a Recession,” Wired, March 5, 2021, https://www.wired.com/story/gig-companies-fear-worker-shortage-despite-recession/

Igor Bonifacic, “Lyft is selling its self-driving unit to Toyota for $550 million,” Engadget, April 26, 2021, https://www.engadget.com/lyft-sellss-level-5-self-driving-toyota-woven-planet-204353240.html

Whizy Kim, “Let’s Talk About The Real Reason Ubers Are So Expensive Now,” Refinery29, July 7, 2021, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/07/10553126/why-uber-fares-expensive-profit-millennials

Laura Forman, “Lyft Makes Its Move in Race for Profits,” Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-makes-its-move-in-race-for-profits-11628029254

Laura Forman, “Uber, Lyft Drive Investors Away,” Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-lyft-drive-investors-away-11628115638

Tina Bellon and Akanksha Rana, “Uber posts $509 mln adjusted loss on driver incentives even as trips rise,” Reuters, August 4, 2021, copy in possession of author

Meghan Bobrowsky, “Uber Ridership Rebounds From Pandemic Lows,” Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-posts-record-bookings-as-ridership-rebounds-and-delivery-continues-to-grow-11628107899

Preetika Rana, “Uber, Lyft Prices at Records Even as Drivers Return,” Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-and-lyft-drivers-are-coming-back-but-prices-arent-falling-11628337601

Cory Doctorow, “End of the line for Uber,” Pluralistic, August 10, 2021, https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/10/unter/#bezzle-no-more

Trading Places Research, “Uber And Lyft: The Limits Of The Amazon Model,” Seeking Alpha, August 15, 2021, https://seekingalpha.com/article/4449578-uber-and-lyft-the-limits-of-the-amazon-model

Edward Ongweso, Jr., “Prop 22 Was Declared Unconstitutional, and It’s Just the Beginning,” Vice, August 24, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/4av8jb/prop-22-was-declared-unconstitutional-and-its-just-the-beginning

Tom McKay, “Uber Says It’s on Track to Maybe Make a Fake Profit,” Gizmodo, September 21, 2021, https://gizmodo.com/uber-says-its-on-track-to-maybe-make-a-fake-profit-1847716786

Greg Bensinger, “For Uber and Lyft, the Rideshare Bubble Bursts,” New York Times, October 17, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/opinion/uber-lyft.html

George Maier, “Will Uber still exist by the end of the decade?” London School of Economics, October 29, 2021, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview/2021/10/29/will-uber-still-exist-by-the-end-of-the-decade/

Lee Fang, “Uber CEO Admits Company Can Afford Labor Protections for Drivers,” Intercept, January 7, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/01/07/uber-drivers-labor-protections-dara-khosrowshahi-european-union/

Laura Forman, “Rideshare Recovery Still Lacks an ETA,” Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/rideshare-recovery-still-lacks-an-eta-11644452051

Cory Doctorow, “The Big Lie that keeps the Uber bezzle alive,” Pluralistic, February 11, 2022, https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/11/bezzlers-gonna-bezzle/

Hubert Horan, “Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Twenty-Nine: Despite Massive Price Increases Uber Losses Top $31 Billion,” Naked Capitalism, February 11, 2022, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-twenty-nine-despite-massive-price-increases-uber-losses-top-31-billion.html

Dan Primack, “Many unicorn startups could become zombies,” Axios, March 17, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/03/17/unicorn-startups-zombie-companies

Francesca Maglione, “Trump Lawyer Sticks Uber With $91 Million Arbitration Bill for ‘Reverse Bias’ Claims,” Bloomberg, April 19, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-19/trump-lawyer-sticks-uber-with-astronomical-arbitration-bill

Tina Bellon, “Lyft shares tank 26% on higher cost of getting drivers back on street,” Reuters, May 3, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/lyft-says-customers-spending-despite-inflation-results-top-targets-2022-05-03/

Jackie Davalos, “Uber Sidesteps Lyft’s Debacle With Optimism Over Riders, Profit,” Bloomberg, May 4, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-04/uber-beats-sales-estimates-delivers-upbeat-forecast

Reuters, “Uber to cut costs, slow down hiring, CEO tells staff,” May 9, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/uber-cut-costs-slow-down-hiring-ceo-tells-staff-cnbc-2022-05-09/

Janet H. Cho, “Powell Warns Soft Landing Could Be ‘Quite Challenging,’” Barron’s, May 12, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/jerome-powell-confirmed-to-second-term-as-fed-chair-51652381402

Megumi Fujikawa and Eliot Brown, “SoftBank Lost $13.2 Billion on Tech Investments Amid Selloff,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/softbank-reports-13-billion-annual-loss-hit-by-tech-share-slump-11652339726

Jacky Wong, “SoftBank’s Tech Boom Goes Bust—Again,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/softbanks-tech-boom-goes-bustagain-11652357244

Max Chafkin, “Tech Companies Coddled Their Employees. Now They’re Firing Them,” Bloomberg, May 13, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-05-13/tech-companies-coddled-their-employees-now-they-re-firing-them

David Rosenberg, “The Bear Market Is Already In Its Third Inning. Stay Calm and Defensive,” Barron’s, May 13, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-bear-market-is-already-in-its-third-inning-stay-calm-and-defensive-51652454842

Heather Somerville, “For Tech Startups, the Party Is Over,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-tech-startups-the-party-is-over-11652710330

Preetika Rana and Emily Glazer, “Lyft to Pause Some Hiring and Trim Budgets, Citing Economic Slowdown,” Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-to-pause-hiring-and-reduce-budgets-to-reduce-costs-as-shares-plunge-amid-investor-concerns-11653426208

Laura Forman, “Tech’s Reckoning With Reality Is Still Half-Baked,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/techs-reckoning-with-reality-is-still-half-baked-11653476401

Brad Stone and Lizette Chapman, “The Tech Rout Isn’t Just Cyclical—It’s Well-Earned, and Overdue,” Bloomberg, May 26, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-26/meta-amazon-tesla-big-tech-s-stock-selloff-is-long-overdue

Aaron Gordon, “Uber and Lyft Are Out of Ideas, Jacking Up Prices in Desperation for Profit,” Vice, May 27, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vmpb/uber-and-lyft-are-out-of-ideas-jacking-up-prices-in-desperation-for-profit

Preetika Rana, “Uber and Lyft’s New Road: Fewer Drivers, Thrifty Riders and Jittery Investors,” Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-and-lyfts-new-road-fewer-drivers-thrifty-riders-and-jittery-investors-11653651912

Jessica Bursztynsky, “Start-up investors are warning of dark days ahead as boom times are ‘unambiguously over,’” CNBC, May 28, 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/28/start-up-investors-issue-warnings-as-boom-times-unambiguously-over.html

John Colley, “Gig economy: ride-hailing and takeaway firms may not survive the cost of living crisis,” Conversation, June 7, 2022, https://theconversation.com/gig-economy-ride-hailing-and-takeaway-firms-may-not-survive-the-cost-of-living-crisis-184581

Jon Fingas, “You can pay for your Lyft ride with cash now,” Engadget, June 22, 2022, https://www.engadget.com/lyft-pay-with-cash-153041711.html

Laura Forman, “Uber’s Results Gas Up Rivals,” Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-results-gas-up-rivals-11659454009

Kevin Truong and Annie Gaus, “San Francisco, Birthplace of Ride-Hailing, Becomes the Center of Its Decline,” San Francisco Standard, August 30, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/technology/san-francisco-birthplace-of-ridehailing-becomes-the-center-of-its-decline/

Laura Forman, “Why Lyft Is Eating Uber’s Dust,” Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-lyft-is-eating-ubers-dust-11664597545

Aaron Gordon, “Uber Will Start Serving You Targeted Ads Based On Where You Go,” Vice, October 19, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7vxv8/uber-will-start-serving-you-targeted-ads-based-on-where-you-go

Sergio Goncalves, “Uber whistleblower says current business model ‘absolutely’ unsustainable,” Reuters, November 2, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/uber-whistleblower-says-current-business-model-absolutely-unsustainable-2022-11-02/

Preetika Rana and Emily Glazer, “Lyft Plans to Lay Off About 700 Employees in Second Round of Job Cuts,” Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-plans-to-lay-off-hundreds-of-staffers-11667490092

Preetika Rana, “Lyft Shares Slide After Disappointing Revenue and Ridership Numbers,” Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-q3-earnings-report-2022-11667852844

Ashley Capoot, “Uber beats estimates and the stock is up,” CNBC, February 8, 2023, https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/08/uber-earnings-q4-2022.html

Levi Sumagaysay, “Lyft stock sinks 30% after sales outlook falls short of $1 billion,” MarketWatch, February 9, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lyft-stock-sinks-more-than-20-after-sales-outlook-fails-to-reach-1-billion-11675977504

Caitlin McCabe, “Lyft Stock Has Worst Day Ever After Unexpected Loss; Uber Shares Fall,” Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-02-10-2023/card/lyft-s-stock-heads-for-worst-day-ever-after-unexpected-loss-OSs9KvPhPM4k5RFXvDOx

Laura Forman, “Uber Might Need to Stow Its Freight Train,” Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-might-need-to-stow-its-freight-train-1f22d291

Preetika Rana, Lauren Thomas, and Emily Glazer, “Lyft to Cut at Least 1,200 Jobs in New Round of Layoffs to Reduce Costs,” Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-to-cut-at-least-1-200-jobs-in-new-round-of-layoffs-to-reduce-costs-da423e53

Dan Gallagher, “Uber Is Firing on the Most Important Cylinders,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-is-firing-on-the-most-important-cylinders-83fcfdd4

Kevin Truong and Annie Gaus, “Lyft Is Facing an Existential Crisis,” San Francisco Standard, May 3, 2023, https://sfstandard.com/business/lyft-is-facing-an-existential-crisis/

Levi Sumagaysay, “Lyft stock sinks as forecast falls short of estimates, while new CEO takes aim at Uber,” MarketWatch, May 4, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lyft-stock-sinks-as-forecast-falls-short-of-estimates-as-new-ceo-takes-aim-at-uber-be385c60

Dan Gallagher, “Uber Got a Bit Too Revved Up,” Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-got-a-bit-too-revved-up-4e81845c

Richard Waters, “Uber makes first operating profit after racking up $31.5bn of losses,” Financial Times, August 1, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/dae2b90e-1ba0-4e8f-aabc-34aae4ca05d7

Cory Doctorow, “No, Uber’s (still) not profitable,” Medium, August 9, 2023, https://doctorow.medium.com/no-ubers-still-not-profitable-2b8054e375ea

Hubert Horan, “Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Thirty-Three: Uber Isn’t Really Profitable Yet But is Getting Closer; The Antitrust Case Against Uber,” Naked Capitalism, August 9, 2023, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-thirty-three-uber-isnt-really-profitable-yet-but-is-getting-closer-the-antitrust-case-against-uber.html

Kellen Browning, “Uber Reports Record Ridership and Second Straight Quarterly Profit,” New York Times, November 7, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/business/uber-quarterly-earnings-profit.html

Bill Peters, “Lyft results beat estimates, execs say big October gains have continued, but shares drop,” MarketWatch, November 8, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lyft-results-beat-estimates-execs-say-big-october-gains-have-continued-but-shares-drop-a77444be

Preetika Rana, “Uber Posts First Annual Profit Since Its IPO,” Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/business/earnings/uber-q4-earnings-report-2023-4e0d59f6

Dan Gallagher, “Uber Put a Lot More Gas in Its Tank,” Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/uber-put-a-lot-more-gas-in-its-tank-90b0bc74

David Swan, “Uber’s ugly truths laid bare with $300 million capitulation,” Age, March 23, 2024, https://www.theage.com.au/technology/uber-s-ugly-truths-laid-bare-with-300-million-capitulation-20240320-p5fduj.html

1. ^[1]Eliot Brown, “Uber Wants to Be the Uber of Everything—But Can It Make a Profit?” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-wants-to-be-the-uber-of-everything-11556909866↩