Uber may never be profitable … admits Uber

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”.