Take Inc.

ProHub Comment

This case teaches candidates to build a profitability framework around revenue (price and quantity) and costs (fixed and variable), then use quantitative analysis on financial data to identify the root cause of declining profits. The case emphasizes second-order insights—recognizing that while revenue grew, costs grew at the same rate, keeping profit flat, and that new competition likely drove volume decline despite price increases.

Estimated Time 15 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source Duke
50 / 100
Hyper is a mobile application that connects drivers with passengers. Launched successfully in 2010, it has been experiencing declining profitability for the last year. The COO of Take has requested your services to understand why.

Clarifying Information

  1. Client/Company information – Headquartered in California; Services all of North America
  2. Industry/Competition – One new entrant, Elevate, entered the market in 2013
  3. Product information – Mobile phone application for all operating systems that needs to be downloaded by passenger to link up with drivers in the neighborhood
  4. Value Chain – Pricing is based on a proprietary algorithm which looks at supply of drivers, demand of passengers and length of demanded trip; Drivers are not permanent employees of the Take, simply contractors
  5. Revenue – Ride fares and transaction fees