#Bezzle (n):
1. "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it" (#JKGabraith)
2. #Uber
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Uber was, is, and always will be a bezzle. There are intrinsic limitations to the profits in operating a taxi fleet, even if you misclassify your employees as contractors and steal their wages, even as you force them to bear the cost of buying and maintaining your taxis.
The magic of early Uber - when taxi rides were incredibly cheap, and there were always cars available, and drivers made generous livings behind the wheel - wasn't magic at all. It was just #PredatoryPricing.
2/
Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar they brought in, lighting $33b of its investors' cash on fire. Most of that money came from the #Saudi royals, funneled through #Softbank, who brought you such bezzles as #WeWork - a boring real-estate company masquerading as a high-growth tech company, just as Uber was a boring taxi company masquerading as a tech company.
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