Skip to main content

Uber ‘running at a loss’

Leaked financial reports appear to indicate that car-share firm Uber is operating at a loss. According to internal financial documents obtained by the Gawker website (link http://gawker.com/here-are-the-internal-documents-that-prove-uber-is-a-mo-1704234157), Uber has lost tens of millions of dollars since 2012, and the documents suggest that CEO Travis Kalanick’s boasts about the company’s exponential revenue growth may be overblown. Gawker published images of the leaked documents online; an unaudited re
August 7, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Leaked financial reports appear to indicate that car-share firm Uber is operating at a loss. According to internal financial documents obtained by the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Gawker website Visit gawker.com website false http://gawker.com/here-are-the-internal-documents-that-prove-uber-is-a-mo-1704234157 false false%>, Uber has lost tens of millions of dollars since 2012, and the documents suggest that CEO Travis Kalanick’s boasts about the company’s exponential revenue growth may be overblown.

Gawker published images of the leaked documents online; an unaudited revenue and expense breakdown for 2013 and 2014 showed that, though Uber’s net revenue has grown substantially, the company lost more than US$56 million in 2013. By the first half of 2014 alone, that had grown to more than US$160 million.

On a positive note, the documents also show that the company increased its cash holdings from US$263m in 2013 to over US$1bn the following year.

Uber is growing rapidly, despite many legal and public relations problems, bans in many countries, as well as competition from companies such as Lyft. In December 2014 it was reported to be worth US$40 billion.

In a statement to Business Insider, the company said, “Shock, horror, Uber makes a loss. This is hardly news and old news at that. It’s the case of business 101: you raise money, you invest money, you grow (hopefully), you make a profit and that generates a return for investors.”

Related Content

  • Ertico reveals new ITS event for 2020 in Russia
    September 17, 2019
    Ertico – ITS Europe has announced it is to hold the first-ever Central Eastern European Congress next year. Hosted by the city of Kazan, in south-west Russia, the event will focus on cooperation with Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (which comprises a number of countries formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union) and Central Eastern countries, says Ertico. It will take place in Kazan, Tatarstan on 21-24 September 2020 and there is a preview of the event in the city next month, on 3-4 Oct
  • Webinar: ITS European Congress
    May 22, 2014
    ITS Helsinki has announced a webinar on 4 June to present the congress programme and help visitors plan their trip to the European congress. Eric Sampson, senior congress programme advisor, will present this year’s programme by highlighting some of the most engaging sessions and events of the week, including the opening ceremony, the three plenary sessions and the closing sessions, as well as the eco-driving competition, the White Night and more. Didier Gorteman, director of Congresses, will introduce
  • Vision conference ‘the most popular industry highlight’
    November 11, 2016
    Vision 2016, recently held in Stuttgart, recorded a 13 per cent increase in visitors, with almost 10,000 visitors from 58 countries during the three days, which its organisers say underscores its position as a leading trade fair for machine vision. This year’s major topics, embedded vision, hyperspectral imaging and 3D machine vision attracted many visitors.
  • London Science Museum hosts free driverless vehicle exhibition
    March 8, 2019
    Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are at the heart of a new exhibition at the London Science Museum. Driverless: Who is in control? opens on 12 June and looks at “how close we are to living in a world driven by thinking machines”. Continuing until October 2020, the show examines themes familiar to ITS professionals wrestling with the legal, ethical and logistical issues around the introduction of driverless cars to public roads. The museum says it will focus on “how much of this seemingly futuristic technolog