Uber released its first quarter performance results on Thursday, which included a revenue of $3.54 billion and loss of $2.9 billion versus an estimated $1.4 billion. Just a day before the Q1 performance report was out, Uber laid off 3,700 of its employees which constituted 14% of its workforce, impacting customer support and recruiting teams. The losses include $277 million in-stock based compensation expense and pre-tax impairment write-downs of $2.1 billion, the company reported.
The reported Q1 earnings, despite mounting loss, beat Wall street estimates, with Gross booking revenues rising to $15.78 billion versus $15.27 billion expected, Rides Gross Bookings fairing at $10.87 billion versus the expected figure of 10.68 billion, and Eats bookings at $4.68 billion versus an expected $4.32 billion.
However, the company incurred larger losses per share, which marked at $1.70 versus the expected of $0.99 .
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated, “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”. Adding, he says “Along with the surge in food delivery, we are encouraged by the early signs we are seeing in markets that are beginning to open back up. Our global footprint and highly variable cost structure remain an important advantage, as our expectation is that the Rides recovery will vary by city and country.”
Nevertheless, investors still see growth prospects and the company still outperformed the estimated performance of the first quarter, and saw an 8% year-over-year increase. But the company is expected to lose more in the following quarter.
As ride sharing declines 3% due to lockdowns, drivers are being diverted towards the food-delivery Eats platform, which has seen a massive growth of 54%. Numbers validate that growth pretty well. While rides reported EBITDA down to $161 million quarter over quarter, Eats reported EBTIDA adjustment of $313 million, up $148 million quarter-over-quarter.
Recently, Uber Eats announced its withdrawal from 7 countries in May and was acquired by Zomato in India in January 2020.
