Thanks! I appreciate the thoughtful reply.

Honestly, I don't even thing they have to be pulling an intentional fraud, although clearly given Uber's corporate ethics it wouldn't be beyond plausibility. I think they just have to be selling the dream of future profits. "Sure, unit economics aren't in the black now, because like every startup we're working to capture market share. But once things settle down and we are the dominant player we'll be able to raise prices well above costs. Then we'll be minting money like Google or Apple."

If that's their line, then extraordinary losses are just more proof of how big they'll be in the end. Transportation is a big market, so they'll have to spend big to become the dominant player. Then throw in a lot of waffle about how cars as assets are underutilized, the shift to a service model is inevitable, and robot cars are the future that Uber will also own, but with no pesky drivers to pay.