Uber’s Valuation Is Insane

And giving equity to its drivers is the right thing to do

Editor’s Note: No Mercy/No Malice is a column from Professor Scott Galloway, where he shares various reflections on business, tech, and life each week.

The middle class is an accident. From the end of WWII to the introduction of Google, we’ve found cold comfort in the delusion that wages, dictated by supply and demand, could sustain the greatest source of good in history, the American middle class. They don’t, and they won’t. Piketty is right — wealth begets more wealth, and the top tiers of income earners are pulling away. Note: I’ve read Piketty’s opus and don’t understand it, but referencing him makes me feel smart. Easier to explain with a chart:

Here in My Car

There are 274M cars in operation in the US. Assuming they have an average value of $20K, we have cars forming a $5.39T asset base. This capital infrastructure registers 5% utilization. Uber figured out software that lets any one of us with a smartphone tap into a previously fallow $5.12T asset. It’s as if your smartphone could bring the U.S. Navy into your employ. I’d like to waterski…