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Uber on Wednesday reported strong growth in its ride-hailing and delivery business, saying it continues to bounce back from a pandemic slump despite losing $5.6 billion from investments in other ride-sharing companies, primarily Chinese service Didi.
The company reported revenue of $6.9 billion in the first three months of 2022, beating analysts’ expectations and jumping 136 percent compared to the same period last year, when Covid vaccines were scarce and people didn’t travel much. Uber also said it recorded 1.7 billion trips during the quarter, with 115 million people using its platform each month, up 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
Throughout the pandemic, Uber’s financial results have been an indicator of broader economic health and travel appetite, the company’s weaker quarters correspond to spikes in coronavirus cases and increased lockdowns, and stronger results often indicate periods of greater normalcy.
“People have turned to Uber as they return to offices, restaurants, bars, stadiums and airports around the world,” the company’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, told investors. He added that the company’s results “clearly show that we are on a strong path out of the pandemic.”
Still, Uber’s investments in other ride-sharing businesses around the world continue to hamper its profitability. Of the approximately $6 billion loss, $5.6 billion came from changes in the valuation of other companies in which it has a stake. Didi’s value has plummeted since it went public last year.
Revenue from Uber’s ride-hailing business was up nearly 200 percent from the same period last year – despite the slowdown at the start of the quarter due to the Omicron variant – and Uber’s food delivery business grew 12 percent as people largely returned to restaurants. and grocery stores.
He said that while Uber’s business continues to lose money, it is approaching profitability. Excluding certain expenses such as stock compensation and Didi losses, Uber had another profitable quarter, with free cash flow close to breakeven.
The drivers who strengthened Uber’s business, as well as those of other major economy companies such as Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart, said: high gas prices in recent monthsmade a living difficult for Uber, partly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some said they reduced their hours or left the platform.
Uber, which has already spent large sums to lure drivers leaving early in the pandemic, responded in March by charging a small fuel fee for each ride from drivers to drivers, and said there are more drivers on its platform on Wednesday. more than ever since the pandemic began.
That confidence—and its rosy outlook for the upcoming quarter—was completely different from rival Lyft, which reported financial results Tuesday and saw stocks drop 25 percent in after-hours trading after company executives said they were still struggling over the earnings call. spend more money to persuade drivers to return to the platform and encourage them to do so.
Uber’s shares fell along with Lyft’s, and Uber said shortly thereafter that it would release its financial results hours earlier than originally planned on Wednesday, apparently in an effort to differentiate its results from Lyft’s and prevent a drop in the stock when the market opens later that morning.
While Lyft said the number of active drivers rose 40 percent in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year, the company’s CEO Logan Green hadn’t returned in the number needed to meet drivers’ demand for Omicron and the recovery.
Lyft reported better-than-expected revenue with a net loss of $876 million, up 44 percent from the first quarter of 2021, and a net loss of $197 million, down 54 percent from last year. The company’s active riders jumped from 13.5 million at the start of last year to 17.8 million, but dropped to the nearly 19 million it reported towards the end of 2021.
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