“Uber profitable”

Here are some of the stories about Uber’s 1Q published results.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-first-quarter-sales-rise-70-as-it-preps-for-ipo-1527107700

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/technology/uber-finds-profits-in-leaving-tough-overseas-markets.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/uber-shows-a-quarterly-profit-sort-of-thanks-to-grab-deal

https://www.recode.net/2018/5/23/17380952/uber-2018-financials-yandex-grab-softbank

https://www.ft.com/content/d7ab2be4-5e1a-11e8-ad91-e01af256df68

Profitable … So the headlines claim.  But the profit is a one-off gain from selling Uber S E Asia to Grab for shares in this unlisted company which Uber then valued at almost US$3 billion.

Fake news; fake profit.

All stories mentioned that Uber’s reported “profit” was entirely due to the one-time $2.94 B accounting “gain” on the Grab sale.… Read more