In May of 2019, Uber was on the upswing. The ride-hailing company was about to go public and its initial public offering was valued at more than $120bn. However, in the lead-up to its IPO on May 9 of that year, it pared back its valuation to $75bn and on the first day of trading, the company’s share price dropped more than 9 percent.Concurrently, the company’s research and development teams ramped up ambitious projects — many of which left staffers scratching their heads.“Products like Uber Chopper and Uber Submarine were being talked about. At a certain point, that just sounds insane,” former Uber staffer Maddy Nguyen, now co-founder and CEO of recruiting software firm Talentdrop, told Al Jazeera. “This is such a disruptive business at its core product and it’s driving all the money. Then, all the money goes to research and development for crazy ideas because they kind of have to for investors. It makes no sense.”
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