Uber's Long Road To Profitability: eBikes, That's The Ticket !!

Can't Stop Laughing.

Fans of the never-ending story may remember the chronology of Uber's pivots put together by a genius commenter at J. Bradford Delong's blog back in early 2017:

Uber's Master Plan, The Short Version

Readers who have followed the FT's Izabella Kaminska, and to a lesser extent ourselves, on Uber  over the last four years know the evolution of Uber's pitch. However, among all opiners, this comment at Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality with Both Hands blog is as succinct as it gets. I am envious.
(in our and Ms. Kaminska's defense, we were doing it in real time but still...)

HT up front to Izabella's confrère Matthew Klein who's link set up the chain to naked capitalism and then DeLong's commenter, Mr. Slee.

– Uber has a nice business as a status product (Uber Black Car ~ 2010)

– Uber Black may not be profitable, but Uber will displace taxis and be hugely profitable because of technology-driven efficiencies (UberX: 2014-2015)

– UberX may not be profitable, but UberPool will lead to new efficiencies in mass transit (2015-2016)

– UberX may not be profitable, but Uber is a logistics company and will rewrite the rules of delivery (UberEats, various speculative stories, 2013-2015)

– UberPool may not be profitable, but when Uber displaces car ownership the scale of the market will make it profitable (2016)

– Uber with drivers may not be profitable, but driverless cars will make Uber profitable (2014-)

– Driverless cars may not be profitable, but Uber is looking into flying vehicles (2016)

The Uber makes losses while maintaining credibility for bringing “the future” in some form or other.

Sweet.
And just so you know, we were on top of the flying vehicles:   
Uber to Challenge Airbus in the Autonomous Electric Flying Taxi Business

As the only analysts covering the nascent as-yet-theoretical autonomous electric flying taxi market we intend to be the the go-to source for all things autonomous electric flying taxi and/or theoretical....

Here's the latest from SmartCitiesDive:

Uber CEO: Moving business beyond ride-sharing is 'very valuable'

Dive Brief:

• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi spoke to Shannon Bond at the Financial Times (FT) this week about goals and achievements during one year at the company thus far, specifically about making the previously scandal-plagued company better and more responsible. "The internal work on culture remains incomplete. And the fact is that it’s going to take years," Khosrowshahi told FT.
• Uber recently acquired dockless e-bike operator Jump, and Khosrowshahi aspires for similar alternative mobility ventures, including scooters and public transit, to make Uber an overall transportation hub. "There’s a $6 trillion mobility market, and no one product is going to be serving that whole market," he told FT. "The ultimate competition here is car ownership, and boy is that a big market to go after." Khosrowshahi also announced Uber's long-term strategy involves a significant shift from cars to electric bicycles and scooters for shorter trips, especially in urban areas.
• Despite Uber's much-publicized fatal autonomous vehicle (AV) accident earlier this year, Khosrowshahi plans to continue onward with exploring AVs. "In this business things change so fast that everything’s got to be on the table," he told FT. "One of the core tenets of innovation and making bold bets is also being willing to kill things that aren't working." Uber laid off about 300 employees when it shut down its AV pilot in Arizona after the accident, and it laid off more this summer during a restructuring of the remaining AV program in other locations.

Dive Insight: Uber experienced a $4.5 billion loss in 2017 and still has not reached profitability, yet Khosrowshahi has received accolades for his efforts to turn around the company. He has openly addressed the company's previous missteps and vowed to do better. The company's reputation had been tarnished with a series of scandals, including sexual harassment and accusations of employee mistreatment, that led to the previous CEO's resignation. Although the company's problems are not all solved — especially financially — the Uber of today overall appears differently in the public eye than before Khosrowshahi arrived.

Uber and competitors like Lyft have reshaped the mobility space in a short amount of time, so transportation experts closely watch for future business decisions that could similarly alter the mobility status quo. One of those decisions some consider unique is the idea of diversification into alternative modes of transportation — not exactly intuitive for a car-based business. Khosrowshahi pointed out the company will likely take short-term financial hits for the shift in focus....MORE

Some things never change.