As Uber prepares for its stock market debut Friday, its long-term success or failure will largely depend on the nearly 4 million drivers who serve as the backbone of the company's network.
The ride-hailing company will need to convince drivers to stick with it as it grapples with complaints over wages and the way it classifies drivers as contractors instead of employees.
Lyft is dealing with similar issues and on Wednesday, drivers for both companies participated in strikes across the country, including here in San Diego, pledging to turn off their apps for hours to call attention to their plight. ``The drivers are the ones who helped Uber to be $100 billion, nobody else, and the drivers are the ones who are suffering,'' said Inder Parmar, 54, an Uber driver in New York City.
George's Take: Investors are waiting for Friday's Uber IPO, hoping for a better response than how things have gone for Lyft, which is down 25% since its IPO last week. I always find these kind of deals to be hard to swallow because these companies are still losing money but seem to have a lot fans, especially late on Friday and Saturday nights, if you know what I mean.
Read more here in the Wall Street Journal
Source: AP
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