Thursday Nov.12, 2020

🚙 Lyft's uneventful 2020

_When Lyft starts telling you its "story" on the plane_

Hey Snackers,

Whole Foods is collabing with Progressive to offer Thanksgiving "insurance" with a $35 gift card to customers who "commit a turkey cooking fail." You must submit a picture as proof of your inedible turkey — because your family's ridicule isn't enough.

The Nasdaq stock index rebounded yesterday, driven by a jump in Apple (still the most valuable company on Earth).

Yawn

Lyft's boring 2020 is reflected in its stock price (just look at Uber)

Napping during the earnings call... Lyft just reported quarterly earnings, which seem to be its only mildly spotlight-worthy event of 2020 — and they weren't so thrilling, either.

Active riders jumped 44% from the previous (horrible) quarter, signaling a mild recovery in ride-hail. But they were still down 44% from 2019.
Lyft lost $460M, nearly as much as in the same quarter last year. But it's hoping to be EBITDA profitable next year.

Whip up the scorecard... While Lyft has been doing the least this year, Uber's been aggressively expanding its products and making big moves:

Food delivery: Uber agreed to buy Postmates for $2.7B, while UberEats orders more than doubled during the pandemic.
Logistics: Uber Freight's gig trucking business raised $500M and is now worth $3.3B.
Public Transit: Uber started selling its software for public transport use, and bought public transit-focused Routematch.
Micromobility: Uber led a big investment in Lime and offers both Lime and its own Jump electric scooters/bikes in-app.
Aerial mobility: Uber Elevate partnered with GE for "Uber Air" helicopter ride-sharing (ETA: 2023).
Rides: Uber's launching "Reserve" this week to let riders book their fave drivers in advance.

Lyft's fail is probably reflected in its stock ... Lyft offers bike/scooter sharing and has tested essential deliveries for businesses in a few cities (food, groceries, etc). Besides that, it's a pure-play Rides company — not great during a pandemic (even with the Prop 22 victory). That's likely why Lyft stock is down 16% this year, while Uber is up 49%.

Burrito

Zoom competitor Hopin raises $125M to be the Live Nation of virtual events

Overheard on marketing... The Hollywood Bowl of virtual conferences – or Zoom's socially adept cousin? Virtual conferencing startup Hopin wants to be your home for live online events. But it's biggest strength might be impeccable timing: it officially launched in June 2019, just around six months before... you know what. The glow-up since March 2020:

User explosion: In eight months, Hopin grew from 5K users and 1.8K event hosts to 3.5M users and 50K host orgs (including NATO, the UN, and Slack).
Cash explosion: Hopin went from basically 0 to $20M in annual sales, and says it's now profitable. It just raised $125M in venture cash and is valued at over $2B (#DoubleUnicorn).

Burrito for lunch... means you're turning off your Zoom cam (and mic). Hoppin's positioning itself as a more social version of "other platforms" (major Zoom shade). It lets you exchange virtual business cards, fill out polls, and explore interactive "rooms" and expo booths. It also has "backstages" for speakers and branding placements for event sponsors. And it's building an Eventbrite-like market that helps you discover events.

Hoppin could thrive post-pandemic, too... The big Pfizer vax news sent Zoom stock plunging on Tuesday — investors are already envisioning a return to normalcy. But Hopin says it was born to be a “hybrid” service that complements physical events. That's something that could stick post-pandemic, even though the growth won't be as huge.

What else we’re Snackin’

Guac-y: Burrito legend Chipotle opens its first digital-only restaurant as online orders soar.
Confused: ByteDance's deadline to sell its TikTok US assets is today. But TikTok says it's been ghosted by the Trump admin.
Pizza: Nuro raises $500M at a $5B valuation for its self-driving EV delivery startup (now that's a Silicon Valley mouthful).
Lock: Biden's Covid advisor says a 4- to-6 week lockdown could control the pandemic and revive the economy.
Baba: Alibaba, the "Amazon of China," raked in a record $56B during its Single's Day shopping event.
Closed: New York will set a 10pm curfew on bars, restaurants, and gyms on Friday (don't even think of partying at Planet Fitness).

🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up here.

Thursday

Weekly jobless claims
Earnings expected from Disney, Cisco, and GoodRx

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Apple and Uber

ID: 1409889

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Quite a few news outlets are reporting that Apple thinks it’s only going to sell 400,000 to 450,000 Vision Pros in 2024, compared a “market consensus” of 700,000 to 800,000. They’re all citing a note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Obviously there’s no question that Apple’s $3,500 face computer will have a limited audience and could be a huge flop, but this also doesn’t seem like accurate news.

The issue is that 1) this 400,000 number isn’t new. Back in July of 2023, the Financial Times reported that Apple planned to make fewer than 400,000 units in 2024, reducing its initial projections of 1M units, citing two people close to Apple and, the Chinese contract manufacturer assembling the device. 2) It's unclear who was estimating 700,000-800,000 Vision Pros in the first place, but it appears that it was Ming-Chi Kuo himself?