# Uber lost $8.5 billion in 2019, but it thinks it can get profitable by the end of 2020



## jocker12 (May 11, 2017)

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126965/uber-q4-earnings-report-net-loss-revenue-profit-2019
Uber reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, in which it posted a net loss of $1.1 billion. It was not quite as much as the previous quarter, when it lost $1.2 billion, or as stunning as Q2, which saw Uber lose a jaw-dropping $5.2 billion in just three months.

Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019 - a sign of just how steep Uber's path to profitability will be. That said, the company says it thinks it can finally eke out a profit on an adjusted based at the end of 2020.

Of that Q4 loss of $1.1 billion, Uber says $243 million was due to stock-based compensation. The company brought in $4.1 billion in revenue over the three-month period ending in December. Gross bookings, or total customer payments to Uber before payments to drivers and other fees or discounts, grew to $18.1 billion, representing a 28 percent year-over-year growth.

Uber has been under pressure from investors to stem its enormous losses and show how it can start posting a profit. Uber and Lyft, which both went public this year, have set records for the amount of money lost in the run-up to their respective IPOs. And since going public, both companies have continued to lose money, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of app-based ride-hailing as a business. Uber had to lay off around 1,000 workers last year amid restructuring efforts.

The company is also facing enormous pressure from regulators. Uber is still struggling to comply with California's groundbreaking new gig work law that makes it harder for the company to classify drivers as independent contractors. It also lost its license in London after regulators identified a "pattern of failures."

Originally, Uber said it was targeting 2021 as its first profitable year. In a call with investors, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he was challenging his employees to move the timeline for profitability up to the fourth quarter of 2020.


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## gooddolphins (Apr 5, 2018)

You hadn’t heard. Us drivers are Ubers prostitues. 
the next thing Ubers coming out with is a moving massage parlor.


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## Jon Stoppable (Dec 11, 2019)

gooddolphins said:


> the next thing Ubers coming out with is a moving massage parlor


I can do that!


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Uber will be profitable when prisons release convicts on work release to drive r/s.


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## TheDevilisaParttimer (Jan 2, 2019)

jocker12 said:


> https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126965/uber-q4-earnings-report-net-loss-revenue-profit-2019
> Uber reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, in which it posted a net loss of $1.1 billion. It was not quite as much as the previous quarter, when it lost $1.2 billion, or as stunning as Q2, which saw Uber lose a jaw-dropping $5.2 billion in just three months.
> 
> Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019 - a sign of just how steep Uber's path to profitability will be. That said, the company says it thinks it can finally eke out a profit on an adjusted based at the end of 2020.
> ...


I'm gonna predict somewhere between 2023-2025 Uber turns a profit. Uber will eventually cut driver compensation rate per mile in half then it will turn a profit.

Choosing the correct time and atmosphere to do so is critical, so I believe it will be during a recession when people are vulnerable.

All signs point to this being true. Uber/ Lyft is using the a slow warm to boiling method to pull this off. By slowly lowering compensation, especially through trick techniques, they wane drivers off of stockholder subsidies.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Uber is taking a page out of Lyft's book by saying it will turn a profit without telling you how that's possible.


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## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

uberdriverfornow said:


> Uber is taking a page out of Lyft's book by saying it will turn a profit without telling you how that's possible.


They need to their ridiculous costs and increase revenue. I will be very surprised if they achieve a profit in even one quarter this year.


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

my troll spirit animal seeing the title of this thread :roflmao:








uberdriverfornow said:


> Uber is taking a page out of Lyft's book by saying it will turn a profit without telling you how that's possible.


Actually they sort of did.

What do you suppose all those recent unexplained 5 star, 5K+ and 4.98+ rating vet driver deactivations are for?


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## dauction (Sep 26, 2017)

Uber is already profitable on rideshare it is ubereats that makes Uber overall unprofitable


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## Boca Ratman (Jun 6, 2018)

dauction said:


> Uber is already profitable on rideshare it is ubereats that makes Uber overall unprofitable


Wasn't eats supposed to be Uber's savior and actually profitable when it first came out?



jocker12 said:


> Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019


That is nearly $1 million dollars an hour ever day for a year. How the hell can a company spent so much money?


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Boca Ratman said:


> Wasn't eats supposed to be Uber's savior and actually profitable when it first came out?
> 
> 
> That is nearly $1 million dollars an hour ever day for a year. How the hell can a company spent so much money?


Lube does get expensive when purchased in volume, every driver knows that.


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## sellkatsell44 (Oct 25, 2015)

40% in a little over a month, I’m happy.

the question is do I believe the analysts?

prob gonna realize this


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## Boca Ratman (Jun 6, 2018)

peteyvavs said:


> Lube does get expensive when purchased in volume, every driver knows that.


They use lube with you?


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

This says otherwise. A 3 mile trip. How can they screw this up that badly, not that I'm complaining. Also , they are giving 50%off rides in my area. I could make money taking my wife out for errands.


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## DriverMark (Jan 22, 2018)

dauction said:


> Uber is already profitable on rideshare it is ubereats that makes Uber overall unprofitable


About 40% of their losses from UberEats.

They need to sell off Eats and also sell off their Autonomous Car division. Then partner with one of the big boys for self driving cars. Those 2 moves would most likely bring profitability to Uber. Articles don't list what the costs of their Autonomous Car Division is running. Maybe the detailed reports go into that. And probably scooters. I bet that is also loosing money. Selling off those divisions would also cut what I'm sure are huge staffs bringing additional savings.

Focus on the 1 thing that brought claim to fame..... giving rides to PAX from point A to B.

From there raise rates slightly on minimal fare rides while bringing up the min fare paid to drivers. I bet if they brought min fares paid up to at least $5, that would calm down all the driver protests, at least for a while. $6-8 would be even better, but $5 would be a good start and bring a little peace back from driver protests. Raising PAX min fares $1-3 to help offset that bump to drivers to $5 wouldn't be very painful for PAX to take. I think min fares should be at least $10 and then $6-7 to the driver. Stop over saturating markets with drivers, and now drivers can make $15-20/hr without much effort. And hustlers should be able to bring in $20-30/hr. Slight adjustments based on markets and cost of living. Don't even really need to mess with driver pay at $0.60/mile and $0.15/minute if you bring up the min fare. Maybe the time up a bit or leave it as is per market (I know some markets have higher per minute as traffic is a bigger issue in some places). And then there would also be millions in savings on legal fees as driver satisfaction comes up some with a pay raise.

Anyway.... I'm sure a more painful route to profitability is in store for Uber.....


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## dauction (Sep 26, 2017)

DriverMark said:


> About 40% of their losses from UberEats.
> 
> They need to sell off Eats and also sell off their Autonomous Car division. Then partner with one of the big boys for self driving cars. Those 2 moves would most likely bring profitability to Uber. Articles don't list what the costs of their Autonomous Car Division is running. Maybe the detailed reports go into that. And probably scooters. I bet that is also loosing money. Selling off those divisions would also cut what I'm sure are huge staffs bringing additional savings.
> 
> ...


And since we lyft just doing rideshare we should expect them to be profitable soon and probably a good stock buy


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Boca Ratman said:


> They use lube with you?


My tender booty is prime cut.


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## Rudyhawaii (Apr 24, 2018)

To be profitable they got to drive lyft out of market .. when 2 people fight the third one (passengers) stands to gain!


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

DriverMark said:


> About 40% of their losses from UberEats.
> 
> They need to sell off Eats and also sell off their Autonomous Car division. Then partner with one of the big boys for self driving cars. Those 2 moves would most likely bring profitability to Uber. Articles don't list what the costs of their Autonomous Car Division is running. Maybe the detailed reports go into that. And probably scooters. I bet that is also loosing money. Selling off those divisions would also cut what I'm sure are huge staffs bringing additional savings.
> 
> ...


SDC is more than a decade out if not twenty years. There is no savior there.


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## DriverMark (Jan 22, 2018)

Amos69 said:


> SDC is more than a decade out if not twenty years. There is no savior there.


Right. So instead of Uber dumping billions more into trying to perfect the tech, cut their losses now and partner with Waymo or another company. Let them develop the tech then they just become a user of it.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Amos69 said:


> SDC is more than a decade out if not twenty years. There is no savior there.


And if they get it working they won't be able to trick suckers into paying their expenses, so moot point.


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## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

What everyone has failed to see is the part where Uber plans to charge drivers to pick up pax. It's already been rolled out and several drivers have now talked about how after a long week of driving they paid $1500 to Uber on the $1200 they earned.


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## jocker12 (May 11, 2017)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> And if they get it working they won't be able to trick suckers into paying their expenses, so moot point.


Perfectly true, but the ignorant investors and analysts don't go that far with their business natural effects projection or they don't want to admit it and continue to consider the illusion of "mathematical profit" the milestone that will (eventually) release a miracle.

I'll give you an example.

Remember how here on this forum, the drivers kept saying how riders number growth achieved by lowering the rates (and consequently lowering and subsidizing the general fare paid by the riders) was not healthy and was not a way to generate sustainable profits, because those cheap riders are going to move back to the subway or the bus the very first moment the rates are going to go back to reflect the real costs of the service?

Well, the analysts and the investors never shown concern about this and never shown acknowledgment of this simple economic reality the drivers on this forum kept warning about.

Until yesterday, after Uber reported results generated by an increase in fare value. Listen to Mandeep Singh from Bloomberg Intelligence (0.59 to 1.53 mark in the video):
https://www.haystack.tv/v/uber-edges-wall-street-expectations-narrows-loss
_Question - How much pricing power does Uber really have though, because so much of the initial growth came from subsidized rides and, of course, it was competing with Lyft... Now that is a publicly-traded company it really needs to show investors the numbers, but at some point is going to tap out?

Mandeep Singh answer - Well, so in this case, this was the first quarter where we know, both Uber and Lyft increased prices and it didn't have any sort of negative impact on the trip growths. The trip growth was about 32%... steady around 30% we've seen in previous quarters... You gonna see an impact on the user growth. So that seems to be tapering a little bit, it has decelerated just about slightly as previous quarters... you know... north of 25%, and so you're gonna see that, *but those are not the kind of riders where Uber wants to invest, because there is going to be a very little repeat rate, when it comes to those kinds of riders which are that price sensitive.*_

So regarding the self-driving cars realities and also regarding self-driving car fleets realities, I am sure the unfortunate investors, the clueless analysts and all the involved companies (benefitting from the naive but important investments) would avoid as much as possible to discuss and acknowledge the elephant in the room, and *continue to claim how they are going to reprogram all the pigs to fly like sparrows.*


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## Eddie Dingle (Sep 23, 2019)

Ponzi schemes never become profitable. Having all the extra business ventures like eats and bikes that end up in lakes means you can have 500 reasons for not being profitable. It's such a murky outlook, I wouldn't invest in that rubbish.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Cynergie said:


> my troll spirit animal seeing the title of this thread :roflmao:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


where are you seeing this ?


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## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

Fusion_LUser said:


> several drivers have now talked about how after a long week of driving they paid $1500 to Uber on the $1200 they earned.


Where?


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## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

Fusion_LUser said:


> What everyone has failed to see is the part where Uber plans to charge drivers to pick up pax. It's already been rolled out and several drivers have now talked about how after a long week of driving they paid $1500 to Uber on the $1200 they earned.


@Fusion_LUser where's this happening?


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## Fusion_LUser (Jan 3, 2020)

goneubering said:


> @Fusion_LUser where's this happening?


It's a joke!


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## Boca Ratman (Jun 6, 2018)

Fusion_LUser said:


> It's a joke!


Lol geez


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

So they lose more than $23 million a day and think they can be profitable. Mind you this is after the 10s of millions they take in each day, they still manage to lose staggering amounts.


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Fusion_LUser said:


> What everyone has failed to see is the part where Uber plans to charge drivers to pick up pax. It's already been rolled out and several drivers have now talked about how after a long week of driving they paid $1500 to Uber on the $1200 they earned.


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## itsablackmarket (May 12, 2015)

Uber doesn't think it will be profitable by 2020. It just knows it has to be or they're screwed. Lol. What goes around comes around.


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## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

jocker12 said:


> https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126965/uber-q4-earnings-report-net-loss-revenue-profit-2019
> Uber reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, in which it posted a net loss of $1.1 billion. It was not quite as much as the previous quarter, when it lost $1.2 billion, or as stunning as Q2, which saw Uber lose a jaw-dropping $5.2 billion in just three months.
> 
> Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019 - a sign of just how steep Uber's path to profitability will be. That said, the company says it thinks it can finally eke out a profit on an adjusted based at the end of 2020.
> ...


Good luck now.


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## June132017 (Jun 13, 2017)

Now with Corona slowing things down they seem screwed.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

jocker12 said:


> https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126965/uber-q4-earnings-report-net-loss-revenue-profit-2019
> Uber reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, in which it posted a net loss of $1.1 billion. It was not quite as much as the previous quarter, when it lost $1.2 billion, or as stunning as Q2, which saw Uber lose a jaw-dropping $5.2 billion in just three months.
> 
> Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019 - a sign of just how steep Uber's path to profitability will be. That said, the company says it thinks it can finally eke out a profit on an adjusted based at the end of 2020.
> ...


Not This Year.

Unless we deliver Covid-19 vaccinations.


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## polar2017 (Jul 1, 2017)

Got to expect another round of layoffs coming to uber.
Stock expected to open down 5 percent going off the futures


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## Who is John Galt? (Sep 28, 2016)

The article in the original post gives us another reminder that Über would be far more successful and profitable writing comedy than providing rideshare services.

.


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## Ubereater (Dec 25, 2015)

"Non profitable" Uber's founder cashed out $2.5 B .
If that isn't a profit, what's that then ?
If it was in England circa the early years of the Rolling Stones, TK would have to pay $2,325B in taxes


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## goneubering (Aug 17, 2017)

polar2017 said:


> Got to expect another round of layoffs coming to uber.
> Stock expected to open down 5 percent going off the futures


Dara needs to lay off a LOT more people.


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## wastaxinowuber (Oct 23, 2019)

The title needs to be changed to by the end of year 20,200


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## Cynergie (Apr 10, 2017)

goneubering said:


> Dara needs to lay off a LOT more people.


Agreed. Starting with himself.


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