The only thing I have to chime in with here is that it is not uncommon for business models to be ineffective on a small scale but effective on a larger scale. For instance, restaurant chains are able to expend money opening and maintaining nonprofitable single restaurants in certain 'desirable' areas with the hope that after 3-5 years, the nonprofitable establishment will become profitable as it becomes a familiar part of the local scenery, or whatever.

In other words, I don't agree that the bigger the company, the more exposure that company is guaranteed to a certain business or operating model's deficiencies - quite the opposite, in fact. A big company will have separate arms, some of which will make profit, some of which maybe won't. The profitable arms cover the others. A small business cannot sustain the sort of expenditures needed to take risks and fund an establishment which may not become profitable for 5 years.

The ride share company with the most backing will be able to expand faster, more easily, and further. If a company succeeds in that more quickly than all other companies, it will grow to dominate the market everywhere. People who always can rely on Lyft in their home city will automatically turn to it first when they are in other cities - so whatever company gets a foothold in the most major and transportation-deficient cities first will essentially then be able to propagate itself faster by dint of familiarity, trust and comfort in its user base.

As for how one company's bad press might impact another company's reputation based on investments, it's a real thing called reputation risk and in US financial industries at least real people have real jobs where their duty is to look out for exactly such a thing.

Google ain't a financial industry but I doubt they don't have people in exact such roles as well.

Here's a hint, by the way - sometimes, the average consumer's opinion doesn't mean shit in terms of the "reputation risk" of a certain action. But in the eyes of legislatures, it sure as hell does. Companies aren't playing their reputation risk cards to consumers all the time, they're playing them to the gov't.

just some thots