How can one go short in Uber?
The answer to this question is related to another question: How would I invest in Uber? Given that Uber is a privately-held company, the average investor cannot directly buy stock.  However, there are some indirect methods that you can use to invest in Uber, and as a result, it is also possible to indirectly short Uber. One method is to invest in (or short) companies that invest in Uber.  Alphabet/Google (GOOG) owns some, as well as Microsoft (MSFT), Toyota (ADR), and other companies.  Theoretically, you could short these companies, as a hit to Uber would be bad for those companies. Another method would be to look at Uber's competitors.  Think about what companies would do well if Uber went under.  Lyft, perhaps, although it is so similar to Uber that if one has trouble, the other may as well.  Perhaps instead you might invest in a traditional taxi company, or a company that provides services to taxi companies, such as Medallion Financial Corporation (MFIN). Keep in mind that either investing or shorting any of these is not really the same as investing/shorting Uber.  It provides you some exposure in Uber, but your investment is also affected by many other things that have nothing to do with Uber. For more information, see the Investopedia article Ways to Invest in Uber before It Goes Public. For the record, I don't recommend that you do any of this. "Pay someone a fee to borrow their private Uber shares, then sell those private shares to someone else, then find someone else you can buy their private shares from for less than the net of the proceeds you made selling the borrowed shares you sold plus the fees you've paid to the first person and return your newly purchased shares back to the person you initially borrowed the shares from. On a serious note, Uber is private; there is no liquid public market for the shares so there is no mechanism to short the company.  The valuations you see might not even be legitimate because the company's financials are not public.  You could try to short a proxy for Uber but to my knowledge there is no public ""rideshare""/taxi service business similar enough to Uber to be a reasonably legitimate proxy."
"I'm just really getting sick of these ""omg, free market"" bullshit arguments. These regulations didn't spring up all over the country without reason. Discrimination, red-lining, and rate gouging were all issues the taxi industry faced at one time. Taxi regulators put these rules into effect to protect customers and assure that people using public transportation could get to where they needed to go.  The difference between Uber/Lyft and taxis that follow the law is that there is regulatory body that impose fines on companies and cab drivers that violate them. And with enough complaints, the regulators can completely revoke their ability to serve as taxi cabs in a city.  Instead you want this free market where the cab drivers can tell their passengers to get fucked if they don't like it. Go read the wiki page on taxi regulation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicab#Regulation I can't find a single instance on there where customers benefited from deregulation." I use 10-K and 10-Qs to understand to read the disclosed risk factors related to a business. Sometimes they are very comical. But when you see that risk factor materializing you can understand how it will effect the company. For example, one microlending company's risk factor stated that if Elizabeth Warren becomes head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau we will have a hard time... so we are expanding in Mexico and taking our politically unfavorable lending practices there. I like seeing how many authorized shares there are or if there are plans to issue more. An example was where I heard from former employees of a company how gullible the other employees at that company were and how they all thought they were going to get rich or were being told so by upper management. Poor/Quirky/Questionable/Misleading management is one of my favorite things to look for in a company so I started digging into their SEC filings and saw that they were going to do a reverse split which would make the share prices trade higher (while experiencing no change in market cap), but then digging further I saw that they were only changing the already issued shares, but keeping the authorized shares at the much larger amount of shares, and that they planned to do financing by issuing more of the authorized shares. I exclaimed that this would mean the share prices would drop by 90%-99% after the reverse split and you mean to tell me that nobody realizes this (employees or the broad market). I was almost tempted to stand outside their office and ask employees if I could borrow their shares to short, because there wasn't enough liquidity on the stock market! This was almost the perfect short but it wasn't liquid or have any options so not perfect after all. It traded from $20 after the reverse split to $1.27 I like understanding how much debt a company is in and the structure of that debt, like if a loan shark has large payments coming up soon. This is generally what I use those particular forms for. But they contain a lot of information A lot of companies are able to act they way they do because people do not read. "Mostly true, it is possible to make money on Uber. I made $350 on the 4th of July.  I uber part time, only during peak hours. And if its not ""hitting"" early I tend to give up.  I've tracked my expenses, my margin is about 55% (this is after the uber tax) and I can typically make $200~ on a Friday night.  Is it great money? Nope, but I like doing it too.  Now yes most Uber drivers would think its a cash cow are fucking morons." &gt;London Black Cabs are acknowledged globally as the best on earth. Other than the huge cost, I have always had a very positive experience in them. So you are correct, it is not in every city on earth.  London Black Cabs are still pretty awful, they are expensive and not particularly innovative. Minicabs throughout the UK are far better in my view, you can book them in advance, pay online, use an app to see where they are and who is coming, or get a call/text etc.. In short, minicabs tend to be cheaper and generally offer more efficient service. They are also regulated far less strictly, I could go and start driving a minicab fairly easily, no so much for black cabs.  &gt;I have been to 40% of countries in the world, and travel extensively for business and vacations. Taxis are almost universally awful. I have had negative experiences on every continent.  Compare them to the uber equivalent though, taxis in Hong Kong are ubiquitous and cheap, but they aren't particularly pleasant, Uber somehow manages to be worse.  Uber in Berlin was at best on a par with a normal Cab, in Glasgow it was more expensive..  In short uber feels like another minicab firm, the local standard seems more relevant because there isn't a consistent 'Uber' standard..  &gt;As a man, I have felt threatened on occasions and realized that no one knows I am in this taxi, I can only imagine what women go through.  I haven't (possibly the Philippines once or twice..) but I don't really feel significantly safer in an Uber..  &gt;I am no fan of how Uber is run, but the concept is here to stay. Taxis will never be able to compete with the traceability and accountability. Whether it is Uber or a competitor, that is what the world will use.  But cab companies already do, I can see who my driver is, what the registration is with my local cab company, moreover I can call the cab company, schedule a pick up for two weeks time for a trip to the airport and know what I'm paying.   In short, there is nothing that makes uber particularly special, they are essentially a minicab company with a technological edge that has already been, or is being eroded.  &gt;The hijacked the term ride sharing, however the generally accepted definition today is an Uber type service.  Uber is trying to hijack it because it suits them to try and distance themselves from the vehicle for hire definition that means they have to comply with licensing, vehicle and employment regulation.  Moreover, it's a real shame shame because there is value, both economic, social and environmental in actual ride sharing, it's part of the 'sharing economy' that is actually realisable.   &gt;Typically the only people who defend taxis, either very rarely take them, or are drivers themselves.  Well, I don't drive a taxi and use them regularly enough, but I'll happily defend some of my local firms because they are pretty decent. I do however understand why people in areas with poorly regulated taxi services might see uber as a positive in that it will disrupt an unnatural and often inefficient monopoly. Without commenting on your view of the TV market:  Let's have a look at the main ways to get negative exposure:  1.Short the stocks  Pros: Relatively Easy Cons: Interest rate, costs of shorting, linear bet    2.Options  a. Write Calls b. Buy puts  Pros: Convexity, leveraged, relatively cheap Cons: Zero Sum bet that expires with time, theta  3.Short Stock, Buy Puts, Write Calls  Short X Units of each stock, Write calls on them , use call premiums to finance puts.  Pros: 3x the power!, high kickout Cons: Unlimited pain I know fuck all about the taxi industry but if I had to answer I'd say the taxi industry isn't a good place to put your money.  EDIT: It's not a good place to put your money if you want decent returns. Obviously there's a profile where every kind of firm fits but there's generally better alternatives than this particular industry. yeah no worries, it's tough right, because uber provides an incredibly valuable service, but i'm amazed at how they're able to get away with not vetting their drivers, but at the same time that sort of lack of regulation is what allowed them to expand so rapidly and provide a (usually good) service. Austin TX banned uber and drunk driving rates went up - (https://fee.org/articles/without-uber-or-lyft-austin-experiences-skyrocketing-dui-rates/)  Clearly this needs to be worked out, and it's been pretty clear that the management at uber has been incapable of making mature decisions in a lot of areas, but it's also a positive disrupter because it allows a lot of people who are between jobs or out of work to be able to continue to bring in an income without being beholden to the cab companies that hold the medallions and charge the drivers for use of the cars and licensing.  I don't know the answer, I think that by providing the matchmaking service there is a level of accountability that is required for uber's vetting of drivers that hasn't yet been reached, but at the same time I think that the primary burden of liability should fall on the drivers themselves unless there's a reorganization and the drivers become employees instead of contractors. -Most investors would be insulated against losses through diversified portfolios. -Uber's staff would lose their stock options, and along with drivers, would face unemployment. -Other services would grow to meet consumer demands.  I don't mean to be rude, but these answers are so obvious, this article is one step above clickbait.