I don't disagree with your analysis, but can we stop calling uber a successful business? It has been probed countless times that they are bleeding money and still is not clear if they will ever be successful.
Yeah, as of yet Uber is not able to turn a profit, and is surviving on massive subsidies. Short of self driving cars, this is unlikely to change.
100% this. I'm amazed that its still given this rhetorical leeway in discussions. As a sibling noted, it survives on subsidy.
How we define success is such a finicky topic. Some circles define success as how much money they raised from investors. Others as how much money they raised from customers (sales). Still others might consider reach as their metric (users/installs/whatever).