Ride Hailing Firm Lyft Courted Apple in Attempted Sale

[MacRumors]

Ride hailing company Lyft recently approached several companies including Apple in an attempt to sell itself, according to a report by The New York Times.

The second-largest ride hailing firm in the U.S. held talks with or contacted Apple, Amazon, General Motors, Uber, Google, and Didi Chuxing over a potential sale, but was unable to find a buyer, said the newspaper's sources.

G.M., one of the San Francisco-based company's largest investors with a $500 million stake in Lyft, was reportedly the most interested suitor, but ultimately failed to make a written offer. The good news for Lyft is that it has a cash cushion of $1.4 billion and is not in danger of closing down, said the sources, despite the company not yet being profitable.

Earlier this month, Uber agreed to sell its Chinese arm to Didi Chuxing, which Apple recently invested $1 billion in.

The sale put a spanner in the works of Lyft's partnership with Didi, which allowed Didi customers to use their app to hail Lyft drivers, and vice versa. Lyft's so-called anti-Uber alliance with Didi is now in doubt and the U.S. based firm has said it is re-evaluating the agreement.

Article Link: Ride Hailing Firm Lyft Courted Apple in Attempted Sale

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

No news is bad news. Now more people have heard of Lyft. I hope Lyft succeed for the singular reason of how much I dislike the CEO of Uber. Such aggression and greed like he demonstrates is exactly what's wrong with society today and the kinds of reasons Wall St. is the way it is. People are dirt under his shoes on his pathway to success—no values.

 

[smacrumon]

Assuming ride sharing might tie into their car project, why can't Apple design their own version of Lyft or Uber if this is the road they are travelling down? Apple has the resources to do so, so why the need to look to, or invest, in another company?

 

[69Mustang]

Assuming ride sharing might tie into their car project, why can't Apple design their own version of Lyft or Uber if this is the road they are travelling down? Apple has the resources to do so, so why the need to look to, or invest, in another company?

Profit margins. Starting any endeavor involves cost. Possibly building a car and a ride sharing project would involve huge cost and take profit margins from the 30's that Apple enjoys to the mid to lower teens... which everyone else enjoys.

 

[ksnell]

"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do." -Steve Jobs

 

[DTphonehome]

It would be a shame if Lyft ceased to exist. There MUST be competition to Uber if we want a fair marketplace. Can't have one company being the only ride sharing service. They'll raise prices, reduce payments to drivers, etc. I use Lyft whenever possible just to bolster them against Uber.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Assuming ride sharing might tie into their car project, why can't Apple design their own version of Lyft or Uber if this is the road they are travelling down? Apple has the resources to do so, so why the need to look to, or invest, in another company?

Because it's well known that Apple is great at software and hardware but lousy at executing on services. As Steve Jobs told the CEO of Nike, only do what you're great at.
[doublepost=1471788194][/doublepost]

It would be a shame if Lyft ceased to exist. There MUST be competition to Uber if we want a fair marketplace. Can't have one company being the only ride sharing service. They'll raise prices, reduce payments to drivers, etc. I use Lyft whenever possible just to bolster them against Uber.

Ummm compared to slow, lazy, inefficient taxi cabs Uber has created competition and lowered prices.

 

[Alenore]

Assuming ride sharing might tie into their car project, why can't Apple design their own version of Lyft or Uber if this is the road they are travelling down? Apple has the resources to do so, so why the need to look to, or invest, in another company?

Oh boy I can't wait having people driving me around using apple maps
(Or, if fully autonomous, a car following Apple Maps without even asking !)

 

[jacobh101]

Lyft would be an interesting acquisition for Apple just for data analytics of driver/rider behavior. The metrics Lyft generates with respect to big data and machine learning could prove to be valuable to Apples 'Titan' project.

For a $1.4B valuation in may make sense to just kick the tires, however, it could potentially help with collaboration in the future.

 

[Abazigal]

It would be a shame if Lyft ceased to exist. There MUST be competition to Uber if we want a fair marketplace. Can't have one company being the only ride sharing service. They'll raise prices, reduce payments to drivers, etc. I use Lyft whenever possible just to bolster them against Uber.

To me, it's inevitable that the market will eventually consolidate around one player. The more successful ride-sharing service will be able to hold more promotions and hire more drivers, which in turn means more people use their services. Rinse and repeat till one side runs out of money and the competition is no more.

That's what happened to Uber in China, and that's what is happening to Lyft now.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Since they tried to sell to china they can burn in........

 

[rp2011]

I love Uber. But are they sustainable? There isn't anything patentable about calling for someone to pick you up.
Autonomous car companies could undercut them.

Again I love Uber, I've used them many times, but I don't know if I would invest in any of these things at this time. Hail a ride absolutely. Invest in the business. No way in hell.

 

[0970373]

No news is bad news. Now more people have heard of Lyft. I hope Lyft succeed for the singular reason of how much I dislike the CEO of Uber. Such aggression and greed like he demonstrates is exactly what's wrong with society today and the kinds of reasons Wall St. is the way it is. People are dirt under his shoes on his pathway to success—no values.

Yes - this exactly. Thank goodness that NYC Taxi's have their own app now as well that can hail cabs to your location & no surge pricing. If you're going to pay surge pricing, at least Lyft gives that extra to the drivers unlike Uber who keeps it for themselves.

 

[DTphonehome]

[/doublepost]
Ummm compared to slow, lazy, inefficient taxi cabs Uber has created competition and lowered prices.

Of course they have. I love uber and Lyft. But when you have one player in the market it's inevitable that they will abuse their position. Therefore multiple ride Sharon companies are better than just one.

 

[A MacBook lover]

No news is bad news. Now more people have heard of Lyft. I hope Lyft succeed for the singular reason of how much I dislike the CEO of Uber. Such aggression and greed like he demonstrates is exactly what's wrong with society today and the kinds of reasons Wall St. is the way it is. People are dirt under his shoes on his pathway to success—no values.

Lyft is crap compared to uber in just about every category (Car Quality, Drivers, Driver Pay, Availability) and Uber is way cheaper.

Not sure what your grudge is against Travis but he seems to recognize when he makes mistakes and corrects them.

I want to like Lyft but it just sucks and happens to be more expensive compared to Uber. The only thing Lyft has against Uber is they allow tipping (which Uber should do) and the fact it's an alternative to Uber.

Region specific ride share apps like Via, Split, are also way better than lyft

 

[truthertech]

Because it's well known that Apple is great at software and hardware but lousy at executing on services. As Steve Jobs told the CEO of Nike, only do what you're great at.
[doublepost=1471788194][/doublepost]
Ummm compared to slow, lazy, inefficient taxi cabs Uber has created competition and lowered prices.

Apple isn't perfect, but it is an internet myth that they don't do well with services. Apple Maps initially flopped, but they are hugely successful as a whole with services, e.g., that little iTunes store, which they grew to be the largest music service in the world. Indeed, Apple services is doing so well that it now brings in tens of billions in revenue, more revenue than ALL of Facebook in the last quarter, and next year will grow large enough to be a Fortune 100 company.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Of course they have. I love uber and Lyft. But when you have one player in the market it's inevitable that they will abuse their position. Therefore multiple ride Sharon companies are better than just one.

You don't have just one player. You have the cabs and Uber. Band the cabs abused their monopoly which is why Uber is such a success.
[doublepost=1471811553][/doublepost]

Apple isn't perfect, but it is an internet myth that they don't do well with services. Apple Maps initially flopped, but they are hugely successful as a whole with services, e.g., that little iTunes store, which they grew to be the largest music service in the world. Indeed, Apple services is doing so well that it now brings in tens of billions in revenue, more revenue than ALL of Facebook in the last quarter, and next year will grow large enough to be a Fortune 100 company.

MobileMe, Ping, & Apple Maps initial launch were all failures.

And why woukd you think that Apple could manage a ride sharing service better than Lyft's current management? That's not in Apple's wheelhouse.

 

[truthertech]

You don't have just one player. You have the cabs and Uber. Band the cabs abused their monopoly which is why Uber is such a success.
[doublepost=1471811553][/doublepost]
MobileMe, Ping, & Apple Maps initial launch were all failures.

And why woukd you think that Apple could manage a ride sharing service better than Lyft's current management? That's not in Apple's wheelhouse.

I never suggested Apple should consider Lyft. My point was the tired meme that Apple is bad with services is outdated and incorrect. MobileMe was 17 years ago, Ping 7 years ago, now Maps is now used 5 BILLION times a week, iTunes from nothing to still the largest music store in the world, Apple's App store the largest in the world, etc. Apple has been kicking it with services to become enormously successful with services.

 

[bozzykid]

There isn't anything patentable about calling for someone to pick you up.

Last I checked, Uber had close to 50 patents.

 

[truthertech]

Last I checked, Uber had close to 50 patents.

Not on the idea of using a cell phone app to call for a ride, just on aspects of how the app functions.

 

[Solomani]

I hope Lyft remains independent and viable in the near future…… because Uber needs competition in the States.

Without competition, Uber will never improve.

 

[rp2011]

Last I checked, Uber had close to 50 patents.

I highly doubt they'd have anything to do with with the basic premise of calling for a ride. I've heard there were these things called "taxis" that did the same thing for decades and decades before. But that may be a myth

 

[Regbial]

No news is bad news. Now more people have heard of Lyft. I hope Lyft succeed for the singular reason of how much I dislike the CEO of Uber. Such aggression and greed like he demonstrates is exactly what's wrong with society today and the kinds of reasons Wall St. is the way it is. People are dirt under his shoes on his pathway to success—no values.

I like how Apple uses Lyft in their ads for iOS 10 instead of Uber.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

Assuming ride sharing might tie into their car project, why can't Apple design their own version of Lyft or Uber if this is the road they are travelling down? Apple has the resources to do so, so why the need to look to, or invest, in another company?

Remember when iPhone had a great built in maps app that was powered by Google and they they decided start over with their own maps app and data. We all saw how well that went, right?

 

[S.B.G]

The good news for Lyft is that it has a cash cushion of $1.4 billion and is not in danger of closing down, said the sources, despite the company not yet being profitable.

Is it because of the lack of profitability that they're looking for a buyer?