Huge numbers for ride-hailing companies
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — It’s not all just about Uber anymore.
While money is still bleeding in the ride-hailing industry, millions of dollars are being generated from rides globally, as the companies look to become profitable.
Representatives from Uber’s main rival, Lyft, and China’s massive Didi Chuxing spouted huge growth numbers here Tuesday at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference.
Didi books 20 million rides daily in China, and generated $20 billion worth of rides in September, “which is three times bigger” than what Uber and Lyft did combined in the United States, said Didi President Jean Liu.
Meanwhile, John Zimmer, co-founder of Lyft, said his company drove a record 17 million rides in October — up from 7 million last December, and says business doubled in 2016.
Still, the company has a long ways to go. According to a recent analysis by Certify.com of ground transportation credit card transactions, Lyft had just 4% market share in the third quarter, compared to 48% for Uber, 36% for taxis and 12% for car rental.
According to a recent Survey Monkey study, Uber is valued at $62.5 billion, to Didis $15 billion, and Lyft’s $5.5 billion.
There were reports recently that Lyft has looked to sell the company for $9 billion to $10 billion. But when it couldn’t get the price, it decided not to sell.
At the WSJ.D conference here, Zimmer was asked about it. He said Lyft gets inquiries about purchases all the time, and that board of directors felt obligated to listen.
The company plans to do an IPO sometime in the future, he said, but for now, having raised $2 billion to grow, Lyft has $1.3 billion in the bank and is comfortable investing in the future, he said.
Zimmer believes personal car ownership is about to take a huge hit within five years as consumers compare the cost of a self-driving car pickup to owning, parking and upkeep, and will pick the instant ride.
“If you can push a button, get a ride within three minutes and never have to think about parking, cleaning and maintenance, that will be a major turning point,” Zimmer said.
Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham.