Sharing the misery: 2014 was a rough year for Uber, Airbnb, and on-demand apps<article>
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It was a weird, wild year for Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb, the companies that defined the so-called sharing economy and then quickly grew beyond it.</p><p>
Sharing resources, also known as renting out stuff you’re not using, grew out of need. People struggling to cover rent from month to month can list their
couches or spare rooms on Airbnb. You can offer rides on Uber or Lyft to make your car payments.</p><p>
But the feel-good talk about sharing faded this year as startups began raising money—piles of money—and expanding into new cities as fast as possible.
Apps that were focused on sharing are now emphasizing on-demand everything, and the biggest offenders of 2014 took a decidedly weird detour into dirty
business tactics (Uber) and downright scary situations (oh, Uber again).</p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="/article/2858329/sharing-the-misery-2014-was-a-rough-year-for-uber-airbnb-and-on-demand-apps.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here[/url]</p></section></article>
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Sharing the misery: 2014 was a rough year for Uber, Airbnb, and on-demand apps
