European Sportsbook Buys FanDuel; Uber Turned A Profit, Sort Of

The Water Coolest

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THE HEADLINES

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UBER TURNED A PROFIT … NOT!

Uber turned a $2.5B profit on $2.6B in revenue in the first quarter of 2018. You read that right.

Wait, what?

Uber has yet to post a quarterly profit. But in late 2017 and early 2018, the “technology” company merged with local competitors in Russia and Southeast Asia, gaining $2.9B on paper.

Without this, Uber would’ve posted a $480M loss, still significantly lower than previous quarters, but not quite a 96% profit margin.

Now what?

Uber is expected to IPO in 2019. But in the meantime, your sober ride home will look to fuel their UberEats business, which expands to three new cities every week, expand its shared-ride offerings, and distance itself from the very existence of Travis Kalanick.

Water Cooler Talking Point: “Wow. I thought I was kicking ass financially at the beginning of this year by paying off my credit card at the end of the month and saving 10% of my paycheck. Meanwhile, Uber just comes from the top rope and posts a 96% profit. I’ll see myself out.”

 

LUCK OF THE IRISH

European sportsbook, Paddy Power Betfair (PBB) has agreed to purchase a 61% stake in daily fantasy sports giant, FanDuel for $770M. The news comes on the heels of the Supreme Courts announcement that it is within state’s rights to govern sports gambling.

FanDuel, and its main competitor, DraftKings, found their sweet spot in the gray area of the law that is Daily Fantasy Sports. Of course, their Cinderella run was not without tumult. The industry was rattled by class action suits and marred by scandal.

But alas it seems their perseverance has paid off, with Fan Duel having already gone all “show me the money!” Get ready for more annoying ads, as the two top DFS players battle for your paycheck.

Water Cooler Talking Point: “Picking a lineup in DFS was one of the crowning achievements of my life. Then the games started. I placed 5,460 out of 30,289 and won $4.03. I went to bed a champion that night.”

 


IN OTHER NEWS

 

  • In its latest round of cost cuts, Deutsche Bank is planning to layoff as many as 10k employees worldwide or about 10% of its workforce. New CEO Christian Sewing is basically George Clooney in “Up in the Air” at this point.
  • We’ve got a good old fashioned pissing match on our hands. Comcast made an official announcement that it will rival Disney’s bid for Fox with an offer that is “all-cash and at a premium to the value of the current all-share offer.”
  • Goldman F*cking Sachs. Ever heard of it? A gaggle of Patrick Bateman look-a-likes on Goldman’s derivatives desk made $200M in one day last February, cashing in on their positions in the VIX, the stock markets “fear gauge.”
  • As if Elon Musk didn’t have enough on his plate, he plans to start the Yelp for journalism to crowdsource “truth ratings.” Elon took to Twitter to share the good news.
  • Lyft vows to invest $100M to extend hours at “driver hubs” and offer discounted car maintenance and Uber will offer health benefits to some European drivers.
  • US indices were up yesterday:
    • DOW: +0.21%
    • S&P 500: +0.32%
    • NASDAQ: +0.64%

 

The Water Coolest is a daily business newsletter consisting of business news, financial advice, and unfiltered commentary. Delivered fresh in your inbox every morning so you're ready to snap necks and cash checks. Written by Tyler Morrin, AJ Glagolev, Nick Ellis, and Ian Barto.