How Can Lyft’s IPO Show That Uber Is A Monopoly?

It’s possible for people to have a monomania and then fit everything into that world view, of course it is. There’s no explanation for Marxism other than that. But it’s rare to see such mistakes – other than that Marxism of course – being taken seriously.

Here’s one of those rare examples from The Observer:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]On Friday Lyft, the ridesharing company, went public on the US stock markets, soaring 21% before ending the day up a more modest 8.7%. The company is now valued at $22bn, creating many new millionaires among the Lyft staff and generating big profits for investors who have backed the business as it has developed.[/perfectpullquote]

OK, yes. Lyft just had their IPO. But:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Douglas Rushkoff, author of Team Human and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, sees close parallels to the first wave of tech companies to go to public at the turn of the millennium. “What we are looking at is the reaction of traditional corporate capitalism against the sharing economy,” said Rushkoff. Just as Amazon became the online retailer and Facebook came to dominate social media, “couch-surfing became Airbnb, ridesharing became Uber. It’s capital coming in, establishing monopolies and changing the laws in order to establish a monopolistic foothold,” he said. With all this initial public offering (IPO) cash, competition will once again be killed, he warns. [/perfectpullquote]

The IPO of Lyft, the ride sharing company, shows that Uber, the ride sharing company, is a monopoly? Or Lyft, the ride sharing company, raises capital meaning that this will establish Uber, the ride sharing company, as a monopolist?

Or just that Douggie here is a monomaniac insistent on forcing everything into his mania?