Uber reported it had seen encouraging signs in markets hit by the
pandemic and posted a 14% rise in revenue for the first quarter, supported by a
jump in food-delivery orders at its Uber Eats business.
Uber
Technologies Inc's ride service bookings slowly recovered in recent weeks
as the company expects a coronavirus-related slowdown will delay the goal of
becoming profitable by a matter of quarters, not years, Chief Executive Dara
Khosrowshahi said on Thursday.
He spoke after
Uber reported it had seen encouraging signs in markets hit by the pandemic and
posted a 14% rise in revenue for the first quarter, supported by a jump in
food-delivery orders at its Uber
Eats business.
Khosrowshahi said
stringent cost cutting, to the tune of more than $1 billion (808 million
pounds) in 2020, would ensure the company stayed on track. Uber on Wednesday
said it would lay off 3,700 full-time employees, or roughly 17% of its
headcount.
The company, which
makes the bulk of its revenue through ride-hailing, said trip requests had
dropped 80% globally in April, but were slowly recovering. In the United
States, Uber's most important market, ride requests were up 12% last week from
their lowest point in April.
In large cities in
Georgia and Texas, U.S. states that have reopened parts of their economy in
recent weeks, trips were up around 45% from their low point in April, Uber
said.
Global lockdown
orders aimed at curbing the spread of the virus were a silver lining for Uber's
loss-making food delivery unit, with many new customers and restaurants signing
up for the service as eateries were shuttered.
Uber recorded
$3.54 billion in total revenue for the first three months of the year, roughly
in line with analyst estimates, but still posted a $2.9 billion loss in the
period. That included a $2.1 billion pretax writedown of the value of some of
Uber's minority investments.
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