That was quick

From How Travis Kalanick Is Building The Ultimate Transportation Machine by Miguel Helft.

The result has been the fastest ascent in Silicon Valley history, as Uber outpaced even rocket ships like Google and Facebook, with revenue that exceeded $1 billion in the second quarter and a workforce of more than 9,000 employees and 1.5 million drivers. (More people earn a paycheck--or part of one--from Uber than from any other private employer in the world except for Wal-Mart and McDonald's.) Uber has rolled out its app--often bulldozing regulatory hurdles and vocal opposition from taxi drivers--in more than 450 cities across 73 countries. In any given month 40 million people will take an Uber ride, and its drivers will collectively cover 1.2 billion miles, or about 35 times the distance between Earth and Mars. Kalanick's goal now is to "make transportation as reliable as running water."