This is more like a “it was written on the wall” kind of situation for Uber. Most experts, traders, economists and what not, have been vary of the way Uber is doing business, and those concerns found just the backing that was needed.
Uber came up with its first quarterly earnings report, and reported a $5 bn loss in just three months. That amounts to over $1.5 bn lost every month by the company in the just concluded quarter. This was, quite fittingly, the largest loss incurred by Uber since inception.
On top of all of that, the fact that rival Lyft reported better-than-expected numbers the preceding day, did not really help. According to BBC, Lyft reported figures that were generally welcomed on Wall Street, and there was an expectation that Uber would also post positive numbers.
But Uber’s loss widened to $5.2bn (£4.3bn) in the three months to 30 June, from $878m in the quarter last year. The figures reflected $3.9bn of share-based compensation expenses related to its stock market listing earlier this year.
Total revenue rose 14.4% to $3.2bn, but fell short of average analysts’ estimates of $3.4bn. Uber’s costs rose 147% to $8.7bn in the quarter, including a sharp rise in spending for research and development.
