Uber reports its revenue is up 29%
Uber said Tuesday that its revenue grew 29 percent in its most recent quarter as the company benefited from a series of investments in new services, as well as the continued return of drivers to its ride-hailing business.
The company said it had $8.8 billion in revenue, roughly in line with investors’ expectations. Uber had $31.4 billion in gross bookings — the amount of money paid by customers — a 19 percent jump from a year ago.
Uber said it remained on track to generate a quarterly profit from the strength of its business operations sometime this year — a milestone on the road to overall profitability.
“With our global scale and deeper local density, we are increasingly separating from smaller regional competitors both on driver preference and on the breadth of mobility products we offer consumers,” Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Shares of Uber stock jumped more than 7 percent in early trading as the company reported other figures that beat investor expectations.
Uber’s strong financial results come after encouraging performances from tech companies like Microsoft, Google’s parent company, and Meta.
Uber has continued to recover from a slide during the pandemic, when it laid off thousands of employees. The company has since avoided the mass layoffs that have taken place at other tech companies, although it said Tuesday that its overall head count was down after cuts at Drizly, an alcohol delivery platform owned by Uber, and in its freight business.
Uber said its US and Canadian ride-hailing businesses, which had been slow to recover from the pandemic, were now growing faster, with trips in those regions up 40 percent from a year ago. The company said lower fares had helped with growth. Uber invested heavily in financial incentives to get drivers back on its platform. Now drivers’ earnings are also increasing, the company said.
Uber’s main competitor, Lyft, did not invest as heavily in getting drivers back to its platform after pandemic lockdowns. With fewer drivers on the road, its prices have gone up.
Lyft, which has undergone layoffs and leadership changes, will report its financial results Thursday. The company just cut 26 percent of employees and named a new chief executive.