Lyft Is Said to Seek a Buyer, Without Success
Travis Kalanick made an succinct observation on ridesharing&#x27;s future yesterday:<p>&quot;If we are not tied for first [in autonomous vehicle rollout], then the person who is in first. . . rolls out a ride-sharing network that is far cheaper or far higher-quality than Uber&#x27;s, and Uber is no longer a thing,&quot; Kalanick said.&quot;(1)<p>Lyft has raised ~$2b at a recent $5.5b valuation, Uber has raised ~$9b at a $85b valuation.<p>Lyft is able to somewhat compete with Uber on today&#x27;s ground war of drivers &amp; customer acquisition, but unlikely to compete in tomorrow&#x27;s war of autonomous without a partner.<p>The recent $500m round Lyft got from GM clearly has GM positioned as takeout partner - GM brings the autonomous &#x2F; Lyft brings the customers.<p>What I bet happened here is that Lyft tried to power move GM with some large stalking-horse bids, the tactic backfired, and now GM is leaking to put pressure on Lyft to accept a diminished offer.<p>(1) <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;travis-kalanick-interview-on-self-driving-cars-future-driver-jobs-2016-8" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.businessinsider.com&#x2F;travis-kalanick-interview-on-...</a>