We're decidedly pro-carpooling... and pro-Snacks story-pooling. Yesterday, one old school company, one new-ish school company, and one brand new company updated investors and customers on auto industry-changing moves:
- Lyft: The first gig-economy cab company to go public bragged that revenues almost doubled in the 1st quarter to $776M. But its loss ballooned to $1.1B. That loss was mostly driven by new stock issued to employees because of the IPO, so investors were impressed overall despite the loss.
- Tesla: The e-car company announced it is offering its own car insurance. It claims its cars are safer (thanks to self-driving car features) and it has more data on drivers (thanks to its techiness) so it can insure cars for less.
- General Motors: Its acquisition of Cruise Automation for $1B in '16 was transformational. Cruise alone is now worth $19B after it received $1.15B of new investment from Softbank, Honda, and T. Rowe Price. GM's tech division is testing self-driving cars so it can eventually unveil its own Uber-like ride-hailing app of GM cars with no drivers.
Uber's IPO is Friday... That adds another publicly traded company to the fight over your transit dollars. With the taxi and car industries nudged aside by West Coast tech, Uber/Lyft drivers in at least 10 US cities are protesting today. LA's Uberers will turn off their apps for 24 hours, while NYC's are skipping the 7am-9am rush hour.
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