"Scooter rental operator Lime has touted itself as one of the fastest-growing startups ever, blanketing cities such as Berlin, Paris and Los Angeles with thousands of two-wheeled electric vehicles. But the firm is losing money nearly as quickly as it expands in part because the company’s vehicles tend to break down before they can generate much cash.

Lime’s operating loss is likely to surpass $300 million this year, on more than $420 million of gross revenue, according to financial projections viewed by The Information. "

"Uber Technologies Inc. is dismissing 435 employees, the second major staff cut this summer, as the company faces mounting losses and a declining stock price.
The eliminated jobs are in the product and engineering divisions, representing about 8% of those groups. Uber said it was firing about 400 marketing employees, about a third of that department, in July.

Four months after Uber went public, the stock is trading about 25% below the initial public offering price. Last month, the ride-hailing company reported its largest-ever quarterly loss of $5.24 billion. This week, California lawmakers are expected to vote on a labor bill that could dramatically alter the gig economy and foist new costs onto Uber."

"Cost of revenue: Uber’s biggest cost is cost of revenue, a category that includes insurance costs related to ride-hailing, incentives paid to drivers, and costs incurred with carriers for the Uber Freight trucking platform. In 2018, Uber spent $5.6 billion, or 50% of its revenue, on this category. Cost of revenue increased by $1.5 billion, or 35%, from 2017 to 2018, in part due to an increase in “excess driver incentives.” Uber describes these incentives as any amount paid to a driver that exceeds the revenue earned by that driver (for instance, if a driver’s earnings from a trip exceed the fare for that trip). Excess driver incentives jumped by about $300 million in 2018 from the previous year, largely due to Uber Eats.

Sales and marketing: While most driver promotions go into cost of revenue, rider discounts go into Uber’s next biggest expense, sales and marketing. In 2018, Uber spent $3.2 billion, or 28% of revenue, on this category, up $627 million or 25% from the previous year. The company attributed this increase to $1.4 billion in discounts, promotions, refunds, and credits for customers, up from $949 million in 2017. Uber also puts driver referral bonuses into sales and marketing, and reduced that expense to $136 million in 2018, from $199 million in 2017.

Research and development: A lesser but still significant expense for Uber is research and development, which includes the company’s efforts to develop self-driving cars through its Advanced Technologies Group. In 2018, Uber spent $1.5 billion on research and development, or 13% of revenue, up from $1.2 billion in 2017. Of that $1.5 billion, $457 million was spent on Uber’s autonomous vehicle research, up from $384 million 2017."