16 Nov Uber Losses Top $1 Billion

San Francisco transport giant Uber has reported a net loss of $1.07 billion in the third quarter as the company’s growth continues to slow.

The figure is a loss of almost 20 per cent from the previous quarter based largely on the company’s gross bookings from which it takes a cut.

The results are the first under the company’s new Chief Financial Officer Nelson Chai, having been without a CFO for over three years.

Last year Uber replaced its founder and then CEO Travis Kalanick with Dara Khosrowshahi after a string of high-profile PR disasters and accusations including sexual harassment and discrimination.

The gross driver bookings made using the Uber app before the driver’s cut is taken and before costs and fees are subtracted, have fallen from double-digit growth to single figures in the last three quarters.

From almost 12 per cent in 2017, growth has fallen to 5.91 per cent in the last quarter with third-quarter revenue up five per cent from $2.8 billion in the second quarter to $2.95 billion in the most recent announcement.

At the same time, Uber has continued to put money into the non-ride-hailing part of its business, looking instead at the automotive market and Uber Eats. This has pushed its costs up to $3.73 billion.

Uber Eats, the company’s food delivery service, represents 16.5 pc of its gross bookings alone. Alongside that, it is also investing heavily in other markets such as freight, electric bikes and scooters and moving into new markets, such as India and the Middle East.

The company could be valued at as much as $120 billion in an upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO), nearly double the price tag put on the company at a recent fundraising round in August.