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Comment by aetherson | Hacker News Reader

I mean, he was pretty vindicated on Uber. Which kind of hurts me to say, I was a long time Uber bear. But it did indeed emerge from the pandemic stronger.

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Quick Google suggests Uber is up 66% on its IPO price, but the S&P index is up 85% over the same time period. I think Softbank also sold out around 2022, so the return (vs IPO price) would have been even lower. Didn't check for stock splits etc but I don't think Uber was a home-run for Softbank at all.

They also spent a ton of money to get an unchangeable law passed in their favor to bypass employment regulations.

> unchangeable law

WTF do you mean by this? Even constitutions can be amended, and if an odious law cannot be changed through politics then that only means it will be changed by other means.

yeah I was a uber bear too, some how it has turned around

I was betting on the taxi drivers revolting, but the capital markets have prevailed

In what country would taxi drivers revolt?

I think in most countries the drivers get paid by the taxi license holders and usually can make more money and/or more have more flexible working conditions driving for Uber.

See eg https://www.statista.com/chart/6971/fare-deal-taxi-drivers-e...

> In what country would taxi drivers revolt?

Germany.

Better the taxi drivers revolt in Germany than artists!

No, their customers revolted. If a business based on "Get in cars with random strangers" beats you in the marketplace, your business model sucks and chances are good that you do, too. That's the taxi industry in a nutshell.

The old taxi union+licensing+bully hybrid system common in many parts of the world was far worse than the cruelest thing uber could do.

>I was betting on the taxi drivers revolting, but the capital markets have prevailed

Capital Markets found in favor of giant corporation Uber instead of giant corporation Cabcharge.

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