Uber may never be profitable … admits Uber

Private ride-hailing giant Uber, which is aiming to follow rival Lyft in becoming a public company this year, has warned that it may never be profitable. The candid admission comes in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Uber prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) which it reportedly hopes will value the company at $100 billion. This potential IPO figure is some way below the $120bn predicted by analysts just last year. And Uber warns: “We have incurred significant loss
April 12, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Private ride-hailing giant 8336 Uber, which is aiming to follow rival 8789 Lyft in becoming a public company this year, has warned that it may never be profitable.

The candid admission comes in a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external filing false https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1543151/000119312519103850/d647752ds1.htm false false%> to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Uber prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) which it reportedly hopes will value the company at $100 billion.

This potential IPO figure is some way below the %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 37156 0 link-external $120bn false /sections/transmart/news/uber-ipo-could-be-valued-at-120-billion/ false false%> predicted by analysts just last year.

And Uber warns: “We have incurred significant losses since inception, including in the United States and other major markets. We expect our operating expenses to increase significantly in the foreseeable future, and we may not achieve profitability.”

Other admissions in the SEC filing include: “We are making substantial investments in new offerings and technologies, and expect to increase such investments in the future. These new ventures are inherently risky, and we may never realise any expected benefits from them.”

The company says the world of driverless taxis may not offer all that is hoped, too: “We may fail to develop and successfully commercialise autonomous vehicle technologies and expect that our competitors will develop such technologies before us, and such technologies may fail to perform as expected, or may be inferior to those developed by our competitors.”

In what has become a familiar refrain, the company also argues that its business would be “adversely affected if drivers were classified as employees instead of independent contractors”.

Related Content

  • December 14, 2018
    TfL describes reports of closer ties with Uber as ‘nonsense’
    Transport for London (TfL) has described claims that it is deepening its relationship with Uber as ‘nonsense’. Media reports suggested that London’s transit authority might be going to offer customers access to public transport services via the ride-hailing firm's app. The Financial Times reported that Uber is attempting to add TfL's data about tube and bus timetables into the app. But a spokesperson from TfL told ITS International that the only thing it is putting out is open data – and does no
    Read More
  • November 15, 2019
    Waymo scraps AV operations in Austin
    Waymo is closing its operations in the US city of Austin following an increase in investment in the Detroit and Phoenix areas. A spokesperson told Austin Inno: “As a result, we’ve decided to relocate all Austin positions to Detroit and Phoenix. We are working closely with employees, offering them the opportunity to transfer, as well as with our staffing partners to ensure everyone receives transition pay and relocation assistance.” Last month Waymo sent an email to users, which appeared on Reddit, saying
    Read More
  • December 5, 2018
    Columbus, Ohio is named Smart Cities Dive’s city of 2018
    Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the Smart Cities Dive website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification. The US city won the US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes. Smart Cities Dive said the city’s “biggest area of progress this year” has been its increased reliance on electric vehicles (EVs), including in its bus fleet and other government vehicles. City authoritie
    Read More
  • December 10, 2018
    Waymo trials commercial driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona
    Waymo has launched a driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona, where riders will be charged for the journeys they take. In a blog post, CEO John Krafcik says the commercial self-driving service – called Waymo One - is available to early riders who have already been using Waymo’s technology. The company hopes to make the service available to more members of the public as it adds more vehicles and drives in more places, he writes. “Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully wi
    Read More

Highlighted Content