Loss-making Uber does not look like a business worth $90bn

As drivers protest and the IPO roadshow rolls on, investors need to ask some tough questions

Good luck to those Uber workers protesting about wages and working conditions. They picked their moment to coincide with this week's IPO in New York, in which the company is set to be priced at $90bn (70bn) or thereabouts, and they chose well. You do not have to be a bleeding heart liberal to think something obscene is happening when Uber drivers tell tales of sleeping in their cars to make ends meet while the founder, Travis Kalanick, has his shareholding valued at roughly $7bn.

Financial markets don't waste much time pondering questions of moral justice, of course but even hard-hearted investors should ask if the implied hopes for Uber's eventual profitability are even vaguely grounded in reality. Two passages in the IPO prospectus are striking. The first, on page 30, reveals more than Uber's glib response to the protesters that it is continuously working to improve drivers' "experience". Here's the long-term thinking: