> The sale of ATG continues another trend, of Uber narrowing its scope and selling off parts of its business as it seeks profitability. The ride-hail company—which once hoped to be an “Amazon for transportation”—offloaded its micromobility unit Jump to Lime this summer, and it sold part of its trucking logistics business, Uber Freight, this fall. Uber is also reportedly in talks to sell off its autonomous air taxi business, Elevate.
Do one thing and do it well is not a bad approach.
That isn't really the whole picture though. In my area (SoCal) Lime and its competitors were game changing and made me willing to use our garbage public transit. The reason no one uses them anymore is because, as usual, the bicyclists and environmentalists shrieked until enough legislation had been passed to hobble something they viewed as a threat. Since then I've just returned to driving since the unhindered scooters were the only thing making the last mile worth enduring the shitshow of crazies and crassness that is a bus ride in any of our major cities.
Counterpoint: diversifying with Uber Eats did a lot to keep the company stable during the ongoing pandemic.
Admittedly, Eats doesn't make a dime, even after this big influx of business, so I'm mostly leaning on the argument that it helped stabilize shareholder confidence. Still... stocks would be lower today if they sold off Eats prior to the pandemic!
I think the more nuanced argument is that you should do one core thing well, then leverage that one thing to offer a portfolio of diverse services.
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 21.2 ms ] thread> The sale of ATG continues another trend, of Uber narrowing its scope and selling off parts of its business as it seeks profitability. The ride-hail company—which once hoped to be an “Amazon for transportation”—offloaded its micromobility unit Jump to Lime this summer, and it sold part of its trucking logistics business, Uber Freight, this fall. Uber is also reportedly in talks to sell off its autonomous air taxi business, Elevate.
Do one thing and do it well is not a bad approach.
Admittedly, Eats doesn't make a dime, even after this big influx of business, so I'm mostly leaning on the argument that it helped stabilize shareholder confidence. Still... stocks would be lower today if they sold off Eats prior to the pandemic!
I think the more nuanced argument is that you should do one core thing well, then leverage that one thing to offer a portfolio of diverse services.