CHART: Uber makes a profit for the first time in its history

Amid an economic backdrop characterized by inflation and competitive pressures, ride-hailing behemoth, Uber, has accomplished a historic milestone by reporting its first-ever operating profit in Q2 2023.

This achievement comes after navigating cumulative operating losses of $31.5 billion since revealing its financial details in 2014, signalling a significant turnaround in its financial trajectory.

Fueled by a post-pandemic demand for rides and a seemingly successful push toward food delivery, the company's financials took a notable swing from a prior year loss of $713 million to a pretax profit of $326 million in the second quarter of 2023 ending in July.

Turnover also rose 14% rise, reaching $9.2 billion, while cost remained remarkably controlled growing just 1%. Additionally, there was a 22% year-on-year surge in trips, totalling a staggering 2.3 billion, which translates to approximately 25 million journeys worldwide on a daily basis. All of these were contributing factors that led to the milestone.

According to Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive “Robust demand, new growth initiatives, and continued cost discipline resulted in an excellent quarter."

Looking ahead, Uber issued a promising forecast better than expected for its current quarter. It predicted that EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) would reach $975 million to $1.025 billion, surpassing Wall Street's earlier estimate of $915 million.