Oh, boy! Uber investors behind CEO sueball say Travis Kalanick won't let the company grow up Uber investor Benchmark Capital has written a letter to the company's employees in which it suggests the company's culture may be even more rotten than is widely known and that former CEO Travis Kalanick is obstructing efforts at reform. The letter [PDF] opens by declaring “Uber is the most important and promising company of …
"Despite agreeing in writing to sign these amendments, he has still not done so"
The obvious question, therefore, is what are the precise terms that they're asking him to sign and why does he object? It's all very well agreeing to changes to the board, but does that mean that in order to achieve that they've asked him to give up his voting rights? You can see why nobody would want to devalue their shares in that way.
Uber is :
- widely reviled by the public at large
- not trusted by its own drivers
- has a rotten workplace atmosphere
- has no leadership
- is being actively disrupted by ex-leadership
- is burning money without oversight
and it still has investors ?
That is definitely called throwing good money on the bonfire. Let the company crash and burn and pick up the pieces without the rot. THEN put money into something that works and is not a public example of everything you shouldn't do.
widely reviled by the public at large
If only that were true. The service seems very popular, particularly with the younger, facebook-weaned generation. The Barclaycard website shoved a huge advert in my face yesterday urging me to sign up to Uber with my card.
There are plenty of people who'll sign up for "cheap and convenient" without stopping to consider that the actual costs may be being paid at someone else's expense. The scandals over Bangladeshi manufacturing haven't exactly hurt the sales of cheap clothes...
"without stopping to consider that the actual costs may be being paid at someone else's expense."
It strikes me a lot of the Millenial generation are fully paid up hypocrites. They'll complain and protest against "globalisation" and climate change, yet buy cheap clothes from primark, eat at McDs, let facebook have their most intimate details and take long haul flights to the east. But the latter is ok, because they got public transport to the airport!
"Agreed. I'm just pleased we managed to clear up on pensions and the property market "
Some of us wouldn't touch BFL because we disapproved of it and could see where it would lead - we didn't want our kids living in shoddy flats with bent landlords. And some of us have done work which created jobs, have brought millions of pounds into this country through exporting, and have brought up our children to do socially useful jobs and pay their taxes.
You can hang the rest of them from the lamp posts if you like, I wouldn't complain. But when you look around you at the things you have that we didn't, like better medicine, safer transport, warmer houses and infinitely better communications, please remember that some of us baby boomers did that.
"I'm just pleased we managed to clear up on pensions and the property market "
Oh yeah, and all previous generations has SUCH an easy time with the property market. FYI - it took me NINE years to save up enough for a deposit for a 1 bed studio flat back in the 90s after I graduated then when I did finally get a mortgage it was an 8 percent interest rate! So you'll have to excuse me if I don't reach for my hanky and burst into tears every time I hear another millenial moan about still having to rent in their late 20s and early 30s. Yeah, been there, done that, so go get your pity fix elsewhere.
8 percent interest - wow I'd have sold an arm and a leg for that when I bought a flat in the late 80s -13% was my starting rate and then it went UP after Black Monday! Then I got repossessed in the early 90s wafter negative equity and a bout of unemployment and have had to rent ever since :(
"13% was my starting rate and then it went UP after Black Monday! Then I got repossessed"
Variable rate always was a gamble back in those days.
Anyone remember endowement mortgages? I got suckered into one of those by some shyster in a suit and ended up paying to get out of it 10 years later as it was clear I was throwing money into a black hole. Probably added another 5K to what I would have paid had I gone with a straight repayment mortgage in the first place.
"Anyone remember endowement mortgages? I got suckered into one of those by some shyster in a suit and ended up paying to get out of it 10 years later"
Back in the distant past (well, 1980) my father advised me to take out one. I paid my mortgage off after Black Wednesday thanks to inflation but kept the endowment going.It actually did quite well as an investment.
This is why there's the small print in 4.7 point at the bottom of financial documents saying things can go up as well as down. Predicting the future is always a gamble, unless of course you are a politician or banker with your finger firmly on the scales. And even then, events can catch up with you.
You forgot to add "making a tescos cheap pizza last from monday to thursday"
Or was that just me?
And i'm not shedding one tear for the "boo hoo I've got it hard" generation either
Especially since I'm a graduate of "earning too much to qualify for benefit and help with uni fees, but having to live on 30 quid a week because they cant take my uni fees into account when calculating if I qualify for benefit"
Next .. on a lighter note
4 yorkshire men
It's popular because it is cheap, but they are making a loss at current prices, and would make even more of a loss if they paid the minimum wage, employers NI, VAT and so on. Other companies have apps that enable you to order taxis, it's not a difficult thing to replicate.
So, what does Über have that is worth investing in?
“Uber is the most important and promising company of our generation”
O RLY?
The Farce is strong with this one ... that's a Reality Distortion Field of almost Jobsian proportions.
Personally, I see Uber and the rest of their Silly Valley cohorts as pimples on the arse of society that are desperately in need of lancing.
"The Farce is strong with this one"
Well he's a venture capitalist. They're often 2 steps removed from reality. I often wonder how they manage to come off their meds long enough to actually make enough money to become VCs. Or perhaps a VC is what a rich person becomes when they start to lose their judgement and marbles in general.
<quote>Or perhaps a VC is what a rich person becomes when they start to lose their judgement and marbles in general.</quote>
I have always thought that a VC is a gambler using other people's money, who really does not give a shit if there are losses, only the potential for a big payday.
So, in London, the options are:
1. Very cheap rides purveyed by a rotten, dysfunctional company.
2. Public transport and expensive black cabs.
The Millennials - the generation that cares - have chosen option 1. This gives them time to use their latest iPhones to sign online petitions, buy sweatshop clothing, and really care about the planet.
This is why Uber is still going.
I often work late into the night. My company pays for black cabs all the way home, or they book Addison Lee. I've found that walking out to the main road to the bus stop is my best option. I've timed it: pretty much just as fast by bus in he wee small hours. And the night buses are amazing frequent and cheap. Addison Lee has often been late/gone to wrong address and black cabs are expensive, so unless I am with a colleague an dropping him/her off, it's the buses for me.
And one day London will have full 24-hour tube, like other grown-up cities.
As I understand it--and I am privy to no special information here--the difference between the money-hemorrhaging Uber we all know, and a hypothetical profitable Uber, is the driver payroll. The whole company is basically a bet that self-driving cars will be practical and legal before they run out of money.
"The whole company is basically a bet that self-driving cars will be practical and legal before they run out of money."
And that Toyota, VW, GM and Ford, to name a few, don't use their considerable financial power to take that market. People already lease cars through organisations controlled by car makers. Car makers have big brand awareness. Once upon a time railways were vertically integrated, building their own track and rolling stock as well as operating services. It could happen again but this time for cars. One easy monthly payment gives you access to Audidrive (or whatever). Cadillac is already experimenting with such a scheme only for self-drive in the US.
"Car makers have big brand awareness."
Well, I'd argue that that's exactly what Uber is driving at (pun slightly intended). Their hope is that, when this day comes, their brand will be well known and the first thing you think about when you want to go someplace. But you have a point as well, I wouldn't count out the big carmakers at all.
And will Über be a market leader in self-driving cars? Their technology isn't that good compared to the alternatives, their current business model is based on them not owning any cars, so they've got no experience of maintaining them, and they would be up against car hire companies that do know how to do that.
Will they be a market leader in self-driving cars? Almost certainly not. But they're hoping to have the best-known brand in the getting-to-where-you-need-to-go industry, and being as this era we live in is hot garbage, having a leading brand is arguably more important (business-success wise) than having good technology or a well-maintained fleet or a shred of character.
"Oh fuck off, it's a taxi app."
And if that's all you see them as, that's all they will be to you. Uber don't see themselves that way and it isn't their ultimate goal. Maybe pick up their business plan someday and educate yourself? Companies like Uber, Tesla (including Hyperloop), and Google among others are going to completely change how we travel in this great blue marble of ours.
Well, I see that the Commentards are back in full force. But, millions of people have come to depend on the service, I for one. Over the last year and a half, I have been a regular user, the service has never let me down, not once. I live in a suburban location in the US, and bus service is a joke. Ever try grocery shopping while using bus service? Can't load the trunk on those things, now can you?
The drivers for Uber, are some of the nicest people you could ever want to meet. They work hard, and I appreciate that hard work by tipping from the very beginning of using the service. Those of you who knock Uber should stop it. Real people's lives are involved here, not just the corporate ones. I suspect that it's the Commentards who are the real villains.
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