Following the failure of its IPO, another disappointing news comes as Uber’s Q1 earnings report shows a net loss of $1.1 Billion.
While the company is getting bigger, reporting a revenue of $3.1 Billion for the first quarter of 2019 (20% percent increase from the same period last year), its losses were considerable.
Per the report, Uber Eats showed substantial growth in 2019, generating over $536 million in the first quarter. The growing popularity of Uber Eats is a mixed blessing for the company, which ends up paying restaurants and drivers more than it earns from users. As for Uber’s ridesharing business, growth was more modest. Adjusted net revenue for rideshare grew 10% from this time last year.
The company saw growth in all regions of the world except for Latin America, where it took a 13% hit in revenue from last quarter. Uber is in nine countries in the region, including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. The company is facing fierce competition from Chinese-owned DiDi in Mexico and locally-owned 99Taxis in Brazil, as well as a number of other regional apps.
Uber reported gross bookings for the quarter of $14.65 billion, up 34% from the same period in 2018. Gross bookings measure the total dollar value paid for its services including taxes, tolls, and fees, but not tips. Uber grew its monthly active platform consumers 33% from last year’s quarter to 93 million.
On a call with analysts, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said as the company expands its Eats platform in the region, it is positioned as the only company there that offers both rides and meal delivery.
The ride-hailing giant’s overall revenues grew 20% from the same period last year. While the revenues in the company’s ride-hail department grew only 9%, Uber Eats revenue shot up 89% year-on-year, while its gross bookings grew 108%.
