At the end of 2022, Horan showed how Uber invented a made-up, nonstandard metric, called "#EBITDAProfitability," which allowed them to lose *billions* and still declare themselves to be profitable, a lie that would have been obvious if they'd reported their earnings using #GenerallyAcceptedAccountingPrinciples (#GAAP):
https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/11/bezzlers-gonna-bezzle/#gryft
Like clockwork, Uber just announced - again - that it is profitable, and once again, the press has credulously repeated the claim.
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So once again, Horan has published one of his magisterial debunkings on #NakedCapitalism:
Uber's $394m gains this quarter come from paper gains to untradable shares in its loss-making rivals - #Didi, #Grab, #Aurora - who swapped stock with Uber in exchange for Uber's own loss-making overseas divisions.
13/
Yes, it's that stupid: Uber holds shares in dying companies that no one wants to buy. It declared those shares to have gained value, and on that basis, reported a profit.
Truly, any big number multiplied by an imaginary number can be turned into an even bigger number.
Now, Uber also reported "margin improvements" - that is, it says that it loses less on every journey. But it didn't explain *how* it made those improvements.
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