Uber's food-delivery business doubles but Covid-19 eviscerates rides demand
- Revenue at Uber Eats doubled to US$1.2 billion, boosted by greater demand for delivery as Americans largely continue to stay home
- While Uber’s ride-hailing segment remained battered by the coronavirus crisis, it was the only segment generating an adjusted Ebitda profit, of US$50 million
The company said that despite those larger challenges it is sticking to its goal of being profitable on an adjusted basis before the end of 2021 thanks to stringent cost-cutting measures and a strong balance sheet. Uber recorded an adjusted loss in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of US$837 million in the second quarter.
Ride-hailing trips, in the past responsible for nearly two-thirds of Uber’s revenue, increased 5 percentage points from their low in April, but gross bookings remained down 75 per cent from last year.
The number of active platform users nearly halved year-over-year, from 99 million to 55 million.
Uber’s second-quarter revenue fell 29 per cent to US$2.24 billion from the year prior, beating analysts’ average estimate of US$2.18 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.