“The value of ride-sharing apps has been proven in the marketplace…”

The Editorial Board
Wall Street Journal

That’s the first sentence in this article: “How Uber and Lyft Can Save Lives.”

There are two implicit claims by this headline and introductory sentence alone:

1. Uber is valuable as a business
2. Uber saves lives

Except:

1. Uber makes $0.38 for every $1.00 it takes in. It’s a sunk ship.
2. The study¹ referenced by The Editorial Board, “Uber and Traffic-Related Fatalities,” is not peer-reviewed and happens to be backed by Uber.²

“It’s unclear whether … the editorial board of the WSJ is willfully dishonest or is simply incapable of reading financial statements…”

Hubert Horan
“Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Twenty-Six: With No Hope of Real Profits, Uber and Lyft Double Down on Fake Profit Metrics”

¹ “The authors had no interest in increasing anyone’s understanding about the causes of traffic fatalities or how they could be reduced.” — Horan

² The data was provided by Uber directly to the two academics, which, while magically showing that Uber is somehow a savior, also happens to make the study impossible to replicate.