<story><title>Uber’s Losses Widen as SoftBank Launches Bid to Buy Shares</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/uber-s-third-quarter-loss-is-said-to-widen-to-1-46-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JumpCrisscross</author><text>Uber had $6.6bn on hand at the end of June [1]. That means they are down to $5.1bn.&lt;p&gt;Absent cost-cutting, that implies a 9 to 12 month runway. Even if SoftBank injects $1bn, that could only mean a few months’ runway. A large fine in the Waymo case [2] could literally bankrupt them.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;venturebeat.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;23&amp;#x2F;uber-is-still-burning-cash-at-a-rate-of-2-billion-a-year&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;venturebeat.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;23&amp;#x2F;uber-is-still-burning-cas...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;waymo-uber-trial.html?referer=https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;waymo-uber-tr...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>T2_t2</author><text>Except... Growth.&lt;p&gt;The (buzzword warning) hyper-growth startup model is in essence 2X revenue, 1.5X costs. Repeat until inevitably profitable - and I say inevitably because with enough time, 2X revenue, 1.5X costs gets to profitable. The only variable there is having a long enough runway.&lt;p&gt;Uber seem, from the financial data I have seen, to be sticking to that playbook down to the 3rd decimal place (exaggeration for effect). When Uber does turn the profitability corner, it will be at a level well over a billion a quarter.&lt;p&gt;Sure it&amp;#x27;s a risk, but if any company was setup to be huge, had followed almost all the meta-rules on growth and looked to be hitting those growth targets, it is certainly Uber.</text></comment>
<story><title>Uber’s Losses Widen as SoftBank Launches Bid to Buy Shares</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/uber-s-third-quarter-loss-is-said-to-widen-to-1-46-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>JumpCrisscross</author><text>Uber had $6.6bn on hand at the end of June [1]. That means they are down to $5.1bn.&lt;p&gt;Absent cost-cutting, that implies a 9 to 12 month runway. Even if SoftBank injects $1bn, that could only mean a few months’ runway. A large fine in the Waymo case [2] could literally bankrupt them.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;venturebeat.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;23&amp;#x2F;uber-is-still-burning-cash-at-a-rate-of-2-billion-a-year&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;venturebeat.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;23&amp;#x2F;uber-is-still-burning-cas...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;waymo-uber-trial.html?referer=https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mobile.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;waymo-uber-tr...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ProAm</author><text>Honestly if they need to make money, they can lay off a ton of staff, and license their logistics software to a lot of companies.  It wouldn&amp;#x27;t be what their game plan has been, definitely a severe pivot but they would be a money printing machine for years to come.</text></comment>