All good points. But is it really better from a returns standpoint for Uber to cease California ops or was that just a ploy? If that move will make them the most money under the new regulatory regime, no one can compel them to operate.
I think ceasing operations was due to not having the infrastructure in place to operate legally under the new requirements. Uber is a big business and these are significant changes to how they can run their business, so they may need a long time to get things in order to operate within the new mandate.
They had over a year to comply since the law was enacted. And even more since Dynamax was ruled on.
They made the changes that they thought were necessarily for their drivers to not qualify as employees under the new law. Then on short notice a court ruling determined that they hadn’t done enough and the drivers would still count as employees. That’s the “short notice” aspect.
It could hurt their margins big time. They’re public now - investors want cash flow.