Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition

Re:Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition by ska on Monday April 09, 2018 @02:28PM (#16795595)

   The odds of their work surviving to the 10 year mark seems so small.

Are you sure that the odds are worse than surviving the 10 year mark without an acquisition? Would hardly be the first time someone sold because they simply couldn't make the growth math work, and they were all out of good options for financing.

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Re:Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition by wpietri on Monday April 09, 2018 @06:55PM (#16797697)

I'm not sure, but that's the way I'd bet.

They just took $10m in January, which is a fair bit of runway for testing hypotheses. When they start to run low on that, they can go to every single VC firm for more. Inside Uber, they are going to have approximately one executive to get funding from. Currently that executive obviously likes them. But feelings change, and they're just a reorg or an executive departure away from somebody who gives zero fucks.

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Re:Uber enters dockless bike wars with Jump acquisition by robszumski on Tuesday April 10, 2018 @01:22AM (#16799158)

Isn't this the same problem with a VC? The funds might like you now, but watch those ride numbers drop a bit and suddenly folks want ridiculous terms and you don't have many options. I would bet that getting $10m a year in the budget for a few years is no sweat at Uber...they had gross revenue of $37B in 2017. I realize they are trying to cut that, but increasing engagement in already profitable cities might have a material impact in the other direction.

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