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Lyft filed for an IPO today, getting a jump on rival Uber. The filing does not specify a valuation, but it gives insight into the nuanced situation the company is in. Despite growing ridership and revenue, Lyft’s losses are widening 1/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN
Lyft’s ridership has grown dramatically in the last two years, from 6.6 million at the end of 2016 to 18.6 million at the end of 2018. It also says its year-over-year increase in riders hit 47 percent in December. That’s A LOT of growth 2/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN 
Lyft is also giving more rides than ever. It gave 52.6 million rides at the end of 2016. That number grew to 178.4 million at the end of 2018 3/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN
These increases helped the company double its revenue in 2018. Lyft also wrote in the filing that events like the #DeleteUber movement and Susan Fowler’s blog post exposing Uber’s sexist culture helped its bottom line in Q1 and Q2 in 2017 4/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN
Despite all this, Lyft’s expenses and costs are still growing. Last year, the company spent $804 million—nearly twice what it did in 2016—on sales and marketing to new riders and drivers 5/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN
As a result, the company lost $911 million last year. But this problem isn’t unique to Lyft, Uber self-reported an adjusted loss of $1.8 billion in 2018. The big question is: Can either of these two companies turn things around? 6/ wired.trib.al/3EzRBPN
