Nope, worse than that. Uber did have its butt kicked in China and surrendered last summer, having it's China operations purchased by Didi (the company that applied the foot to Uber's posterior). But the problem was everywhere: Uber lost 800 million in 3Q 2016 ex-China, 2.2 billion for the year. "Even in the U.S., Uber's home market, the company continues to lose money." They did manage to turn a profit in the US in 1Q2016 but lost 100 million in 2Q and the losses "increased" in 3Q, looking only at the US. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/uber-s-lo...
That doesn't show they are losing money by subsidizing rides.
From your source:
> Net revenue—the amount of money Uber generates after it pays its drivers—was $1.7 billion in the third quarter,
That's what it takes to be a real business. If you are a grocery store that buys bread for $1 and sells it for $2, you potentially have a real business even if you only move 20K loaves a month and need 30K to cover all expenses.
People keep on alleging that Uber is somehow buying bread for $1 and selling it for less than $1. There was stupidness like this in the first dot-com bubble. You aren't a business if you are doing this.
This distinction really matters. Since Uber is making money on each ride, there is a real business here.
I don't claim to know what's going on behind the scenes, but even years after launching in NYC, both Uber and Lyft have continued to send me notifications with steep discounts, free rides, etc. I've used both apps since they launched here and a major percentage of my rides have been discounted below 'sticker price'.
