Uber sharply pulls back from Oakland

[jade408]

Originally Posted by janetj9

Anyone know why they pulled out of Oakland? The mayor was promoting this as the second coming of Christ for Oakland.

Uber has protester blocking their office in SF every few weeks* due to their bad behavior. It would surely be more frequent in oakland because they are horrible corporate citizens. They are already having a bad PR years. No need to compound this.

*workers have to work from home or go to another office.

[janetj9]

Originally Posted by jade408

Uber has protester blocking their office in SF every few weeks* due to their bad behavior. It would surely be more frequent in oakland because they are horrible corporate citizens. They are already having a bad PR years. No need to compound this.

*workers have to work from home or go to another office.

I don't think that is it. They wouldn't be expanding their presence in SF instead of Oakland if protesters bothered them. Maybe the new Warriors office space looked more appealing because it is close to the new main HQ. But if that is the case it doesn't make sense to consider Oakland to start with for a major expansion.

[HappyinCali]

I am not some dude who is pushing for a bubble bust or anything like that and gleefully hoping for widespread layoffs like some other posters here. But if I had to pick one company that will not be around in 10 year, Uber would be my top pick. Terrible business model, easy to replicate by anyone with money. If somebody allowed me to burn as much money as they are allowing uber to do, I could gain a ton of share in no time. I will just give drivers 10% more than Uber does and make my fares 10% cheaper than uber. Voila.

They literally lose money every time someone uses their service, apparently.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by janetj9

I don't think that is it. They wouldn't be expanding their presence in SF instead of Oakland if protesters bothered them. Maybe the new Warriors office space looked more appealing because it is close to the new main HQ. But if that is the case it doesn't make sense to consider Oakland to start with for a major expansion.

The expansion to Oakland made no sense when they announced it. It was a PR move plain and simple. It did its job, no one is sad they are not coming. As @HockeyMac said they aren't a particularly sustainable business and this year #deleteUber is real. We don't want to hitch our horse to a company everyone hates.

Lots of new projects broke ground that have been stalled for over a decade. And other people are moving in.