Uber Lost Over $5 Billion Last Quarter, Including $3.9 Billion in Stock-Based Compensation After IPO techcrunch.com

Kate Clark, TechCrunch:

$5.2 billion in net losses represents the company’s largest-ever quarterly loss. Revenue, for its part, is up only 14% year-over-year, igniting concerns over slower-than-ever growth. The company says a majority of 2Q losses are a result of stock-based compensation expenses for employees following its May IPO. Stock compensation aside, Uber still lost $1.3 billion, up 30% from Q1.

Aaron Gordon, Jalopnik:

But you math whizzes out there will note that leaves approximately $1.3 billion in regular ol’ we-just-lost-a-buncha-money losses, up from $1 billion last quarter and $878 million a year ago.

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As of this writing, Uber has lost $16.2 billion since 2016.

How is this investor-subsidized pirate taxi operation not considered predatory?