How long can Uber lose $4.5 billion a year?

SoftBank Group just invested $9.3 billion in Uber. That’s a big number. Numbers like that, and the fact that the economy hasn’t cratered tell me that investors are living in a dis-reality bubble.

Trump can cut taxes, and spend a zillion dollars on bullshit because they are making poor people pay up for a change, and also because economic “growth.” It is a pure fantasy, of course. And fantasy’s can’t last forever.

Uber Technologies Inc. had a painful 2017, but the business managed to grow.

Adjusted net revenue last quarter increased 61 percent to $2.22 billion from the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, the total value of fares grew to $11 billion that quarter. It was the first full quarter under Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over the troubled business in September.

Despite a turbulent year for the ride-hailing company, sales were $7.5 billion. But the company also posted a substantial loss of $4.5 billion. There are few historical precedents for the scale of its loss.