California labor commission rules Uber drivers are employees - Business Insider: "By the way, this ruling isn't just a huge deal for Uber and Lyft. There have been a lot of "Uber for X" startups to follow in their wake: $1 billion startup Instacart, for example, has contract workers deliver groceries; $250 million startup Shyp has regular people mail things for customers. If these companies, which are referred to as the 1099 economy, can no longer have independent contract workers, all of their business models are shot.
And if their business models are shot, that's pretty bad news for investors who have been pouring unprecedented amounts of money into private companies over the past few years.
Their investments have allowed startups to stay private longer and avoid going public or getting acquired. That means venture capitalists and startup employees haven't had much chance to gain liquidity.
So while Uber is a $50 billion company on paper and investors currently look like gods who will get crazy returns someday, many actually haven't actually gotten much cash back yet. This concept — pouring lots of money into companies without seeing a cash return — is called a "dry bubble." And as Uber board member Bill Gurly recently tweeted:
"Wet bubbles (1999) are more fun than dry ones (2015)."
Here's a copy of the Uber ruling, from June 16. Driverless cars are probably starting to look pretty good to Uber right about now.
Uber California ruling"
'via Blog this'
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