Uber's quarterly net loss balloons to $2.9 billion, its biggest loss in three quarters

Ride-hailing giant Uber just reported first-quarter results.

Here’s how the company did:

• Loss: $1.70 per share
• Revenue: $3.54 billion
• Rides (gross bookings): $10.87 billion
• Eats (gross bookings): $4.68 billion

The net loss of $2.9 billion, total, included impairment charges but represented Uber’s biggest loss in three quarters.

Uber shares dipped more than 3% on the news. 

While Rides gross bookings fell 5%, Eats bookings were up more than 50% year-over-year amid increased demand for deliveries. (Freight bookings also rose 55% year over year to $198 million in Q1.)  

According to Refinitiv, analysts were expecting a loss of 88 cents per share and revenue of $3.5 billion. However, estimates range widely, and comparing Uber’s actual results with these isn’t straightforward given the unpredictable spread and impact of Covid-19.

In the company’s earnings release on Thursday, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: “While our Rides business has been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, we have taken quick action to preserve the strength of our balance sheet, focus additional resources on Uber Eats, and prepare us for any recovery scenario.”

On Wednesday, Uber said it was laying off 3,700 of its employees and that Khosrowshahi would forgo his base salary of around $1 million, for the rest of 2020. The layoffs impacted Uber’s customer support and recruiting teams, primarily, and represent about 14% of the 26,900 people the company said it employed at the end of 2019. 

In sharp contrast to those cost-cutting measures, on Thursday, Lime announced that Uber was leading a $170 million investment into its electric scooter and bike rental business.

Uber shares finished up more than 11% during regular trading Thursday following better-than-expected results from Lyft Wednesday.

Much like its primary North American competitor Lyft, Uber has been struggling with the impacts of Covid-19 on drivers and riders alike, and now faces a labor lawsuit in the state of California. The suit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court this week, alleges that Uber and Lyft have managed to avoid paying for key benefits for their drivers, including paid sick leave, by wrongfully classifying them as contractors rather than employees.

Before the novel coronavirus turned into a global pandemic, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on the company’s Q4 2019 earnings call that it was poised to hit profitability in Q4 2020, ahead of its original promise of profitability in 2021. Uber also told investors, on that last call, it expected a $1.35 billion loss for 2020 in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

However, Covid-19 health orders from authorities around the world soon began to restrict people’s work, recreation and travel more profoundly, and by April 16, Uber withdrew that prior guidance.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.