Happy Nice Mall

Uber said on Wednesday that rising revenue and returning passengers send a strong signal that its business is returning after the slowdown caused by the pandemic in the last three months of 2021.

The quarter also provided another indicator of how Uber’s wealth has risen and fallen through investments in other companies.

Uber’s revenue rose 83 percent year-on-year to $5.8 billion, beating analyst expectations. The company is also the second profitable quarter as a public companymade $892 million, largely from investments in Southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab and autonomous vehicle startup Aurora, which went public in December.

Uber lost $968 million in the same period last year and Loss of $2.4 billion In the third quarter of 2021 due to its investment in the Chinese ride-hailing company Didi.

Uber said in its earnings report that its investments in other ride-hailing companies will likely continue to cause fluctuations in profits and losses. Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said at an analyst event in December that the company will continue some of its strategic investments, but will eventually seek to sell its stake in Didi.

Uber’s loss from operations in the quarter was $550 million, a 37 percent improvement from the previous year.

Uber said it was attracting an increasing number of users by relying on its food delivery business, Uber Eats, to bring jobs amid spikes in coronavirus cases as the ride-hailing business plummeted. Uber reported 118 million users in the fourth quarter, up 27 percent from the previous year.

“Our results show how far we have come since the start of the pandemic,” Mr Khosrowshahi said in a statement. “While the Omicron variant started to impact our business in late December, mobility is already making a comeback.”

Uber’s stock price rose nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday.

The growth in users sets Uber apart from its main competitor in the United States, Lyft. In an earnings report released Tuesday, Lyft said it had 18.7 million users in the fourth quarter, a 49 percent increase from the previous year but a slight decrease from the third quarter. The modest drop in users showed that Omicron’s winter wave may have put more strain on Lyft’s business.

Still, Lyft said its revenue rose 70 percent to $969.9 million, and its losses were $258.6 million, a 43 percent change from the previous year.

Uber and Lyft’s businesses will likely continue to fluctuate as travel has been impacted by the pandemic, analysts said.

“Everything is going to tides,” said Tom White, senior research analyst at financial firm DA Davidson. He added that while Lyft’s business depends on coronavirus conditions in North America, Uber may face other issues as it operates worldwide.