Uber dominates U.S. market shareBy April 2022, Uber sales exceeded their pre-pandemic levels and remained elevated throughout most months of 2022 and into 2023. Meanwhile, sales at Lyft are yet to reach their pre-pandemic levels as of July 2023.
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While Uber diversified its business beyond ride-hailing by delivering meals and grocery items, Lyft never did. That arguably hurt the company earlier in the pandemic when fewer customers were traveling but more were ordering items online.
Uber made a loss of US$8.8 billion in 2022. Lyft, Uber's main competitor in the United States, lost US$1.28 billion. These companies, collectively known as transportation network companies (TNCs), have two options to become profitable.
Now, the San Francisco-based company is facing an existential crisis as it trails its much larger competitor, Uber, amid ongoing questions about the long-term viability of ride-hailing as a business. Since the pandemic, some analysts have questioned whether Lyft can survive as an independent company.
Lyft reported a net loss of $187.6 million, or 50 cents a share, including stock-based compensation costs and related payroll expenses of $186.6 million. In the year-ago period, the company lost $196.9 million, or 57 cents a share.
In terms of revenue, Uber is about 10 times the size of Lyft. Granted, more revenue means Uber is spending more on variable costs like driver compensation and administrative support. More revenue, however, also means Uber can spend more on research and development, which in turn maintains its technological edge.
Lyft is hoping to become profitable in the future. The company has said that it is focused on reducing its costs and improving its efficiency. It is also hoping to benefit from the growth of the ride-hailing market. However, it is still too early to say whether Lyft will ever be profitable.
Over the past decade, the company has faced a litany of obstacles, including sexual harassment allegations, a slew of firings related to a workplace culture investigation, political pressure and tussles with regulators, just to name a few.
In 2022, Lyft reported revenue of $4 billion, compared to $3.2 billion in 2021. Lyft's losses are due to several factors, including the high cost of acquiring and retaining drivers, the high cost of marketing and advertising, and the need to invest in new technologies, such as self-driving cars.
Uber dominates U.S. market shareBy April 2022, Uber sales exceeded their pre-pandemic levels and remained elevated throughout most months of 2022 and into 2023. Meanwhile, sales at Lyft are yet to reach their pre-pandemic levels as of July 2023.
In terms of revenue, Uber is about 10 times the size of Lyft. Granted, more revenue means Uber is spending more on variable costs like driver compensation and administrative support. More revenue, however, also means Uber can spend more on research and development, which in turn maintains its technological edge.
Before the pandemic, Uber had far more rides, and worse margins. Uber has diseconomies of scale: when you lose money on every ride, adding more rides increases your losses, not your profits. Meanwhile, Lyft — Uber's also-ran competitor — saw its margins worsen over the same period.
Lyft plans to reduce its overall cost footprint in 2023 by about $330 million annually. The firm also aims to change how it compensates employees, reducing share-based compensation in 2023 to $550 million, down from $750 million in 2022. In 2024, that'll drop to $350 million.
While Uber is now a profitable company with the potential to grow those profits over time, the stock remains expensive. Analysts are expecting the company to produce earnings per share of $0.83 in 2024, putting the price-to-earnings ratio at about 60 based on that estimate.
Lyft's top competitors include Cabify, Turo, and Blacklane. Cabify provides a mobility platform and ridesharing company, serving customers and drivers. Its services offer taxi cars with added features such as a choice of music, …
On average, Uber paid its drivers more per hour than Lyft in 2022, according to Gridwise. Uber drivers had gross earnings of $21.14 per hour in 2022, while Lyft drivers were grossing $19.90.
The Bottom LineIf you're a rider, you will probably switch between Uber and Lyft depending on factors such as availability, convenience, and cost. If luxury is a priority, Uber is the obvious choice.