TIVP061: Lyft Inc. (LYFT): The Key to Winning the AV Wars? w/ Shawn O’Malley & Daniel Mahncke

Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke break down the ride-sharing giant Lyft Inc. (ticker: LYFT) and discuss whether the company can regain ground against Uber, or whether it’s always destined to be #2. While Lyft has clawed back some market share, finally attained profitability, and is now growing internationally, Shawn finds Lyft most interesting as a potential acquisition target for a company like DoorDash, Amazon, or Alphabet.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:18 - Why Lyft could be such an interesting acquisition target

00:11:58 - How the company has actually managed to regain market share versus Uber

00:13:36 - What Lyft did to achieve operating profitability for the first time this year

00:24:24 - How Zimbabwe became the inspiration for Lyft

00:31:30 - How Lyft’s co-founders used viral marketing to gain traction

00:32:05 - Why scrappiness is in Lyft’s DNA

00:33:14 - Why Lyft made sure to IPO before Uber

01:16:05 - How to think about modeling LYFT’s intrinsic value

01:19:00 - Whether Shawn and Daniel add LYFT to their Intrinsic Value Portfolio

*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.

BOOKS AND RESOURCES

• The Investors Podcast Network is excited to debut a new community known as The Intrinsic Value Community for investors to learn, share ideas, network, and join calls with experts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the waitlist(!)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Newsletter.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• Learn how to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠join us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in Omaha for the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.
• Track ⁠⁠The Intrinsic Value Portfolio⁠⁠.
• Shawn & Daniel use Fiscal.ai for every company they research — use their referral link to get started with a 15% discount!
• Learn how to join us in Omaha for the 2026 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.
• Acquired podcast’s coverage of the Lyft IPO.
• Lyft’s CEO