INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Better than expected revenues couldn&t divert investor attention from the fact that Uber still managed to lose more than $1 billion in the
most recent quarter as the company stock fell in after-hours trading.
There are bright spots in the latest earnings report, not least that
the company managed to stanch the bleeding that had cost the company over $5 billion in the previous quarter.
Revenue grew to $3.8 billion,
up from $2.9 billion in the year-ago period, representing a 30% boost
But even as Uber core business shows signs of stabilizing and its core markets continue to show growth, its other business units appear to
be hemorrhaging cash at increasingly high rates.
Uber lost more than $5B last quarter
&Our results this quarter decisively demonstrate the
growing profitability of our Rides segment,& said Dara Khosrowshahi, the company chief executive, in a statement
&Rides Adjusted EBITDA is up 52% year-over-year and now more than covers our corporate overhead
Revenue growth and take rates in our Eats business also accelerated nicely
We&re pleased to see the impact that continued category leadership, greater financial discipline, and an industry-wide shift towards
healthier growth are already having on our financial performance.&
Losses in earnings at the company Uber Eats business grew 67% to $316
million from $189 million in the year-ago period
And performance in the company freight division looks even worse
Losses in freight ballooned by 161%, growing to $81 million from $31 million in the same quarter of 2018.
Also contributing to the company
losses for the quarter were stock-based compensation expenses, which added another $401 million to the tallies against the company.
Given
that the lock-up period is about to end for institutional investors, that could spell even more trouble for the company — as institutional
investors who bought into the company before its public offering may look to sell.
That said, Uber has taken a number of steps to correct
its course and put the company on a path to profitability, which Khosrowshahi says should happen in the next two years.
Uber lays off
another ~350 across Eats, self-driving and other departments
In October, the company announced the last of three rounds of sweeping layoffs
at the company that saw 1,185 staffers lose their jobs
Khosrowshahi called the layoffs a chance to ensure that the company was &structured for success for the next few years.& In an email to
staff, he wrote, &This has resulted in difficult but necessary changes to ensure we have the right people in the right roles in the right
locations, and that we&re always holding ourselves accountable to top performance.&
With the layoffs behind it, Uber can now focus on some
of the big operational challenges it had set for itself through the reorganization that the company has announced
That includes adding new features and technologiesto its Uber Eats delivery program (despite what recent losses at GrubHub may imply about
the food delivery business) and pressing forward with another darling of the tech set these days — the company financial services
platform.
Uber Money is Uber new team focused on financial products and services
The launch of this new platform, coupled with a slew of
announcements from the company in September, show that Uber may have dialed back on its ambitions, but not by much
As Khosrowshahi said at the event, &We want to be the operating system for your everyday life…
A one-click gateway to everything that Uber can offer you.&
