Uber ($UBER) is about to go for a ride.
The ride-sharing company is currently undergoing some dramatic changes, which kicked off last week when the CTO left amidst reports of mass layoffs. His name was Thuan Pham and he was the longest-tenured executive at Uber. Top brass could be eyeing a 20% cut to the staff count, mostly corporate jobs. Usage is down, as the Coronavirus pandemic has made people rethink the concept of offices, let alone getting into a car with a stranger in close proximity.
April 24th was the day where Uber cut all of its job listings, and a search today shows there aren't any openings or positions available whatsoever.
The one silver lining to all of the above news is that people's interest in Uber Eats is through the roof! The idea of ordering in food has sent the Facebook 'Talking About' count to all-time highs, hitting 110K on March 31st. Uber Eats now hits above 60K every day.
So instead of thinking of Lyft ($LYFT) as the main Uber rival, without the riders we now have to look at Doordash ($PRIVATE:DOORDASH) and Grubhub/Seamless ($GRUB) as the main Uber Eats competitors.
DoorDash has the most comparable Facebook engagement with Uber Eats, each has a 'Talking About' Count that hit 75K in April. GrubHub split its brand between that and Seamless, and while every food delivery service is bringing in a lot of business right now, GrubHub could be leveraging its million-plus Likes into more buzz.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.