Uber says recovery in mobility has “reignited” following a lower demand because of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Reporting earnings for the three months ending September 30, 2021, the company revealed a net loss of $2.4 billion.
The figure includes $2 billion from a revalution of equity investments which Uber says is primarily attributable to an “unrealized loss of $3.2 billion (pre-tax) related to the revaluation of its Didi equity investment.”
Gross bookings were up 57% to $23 billion while mobility gross bookings were up 67% to almost $10 billion.
Revenue for the third quarter rose 72% to $4.8 billion and adjusted EBITDA increased $633 million year-on-year to $8 million.
Commenting on the results, Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO at Uber, says: “Our results this quarter demonstrate the incredible progress we've made against these objectives. Reaching total company adjusted EBITDA profitability is an important milestone. And one that's even more impressive when you consider where we were as a company just 18 months ago.”
He adds mobility is recovering following a slower period driven by the pandemic with gross bookings up 18% in September.
Airports are also showing “meaningful activity” according to Khosrowshahi, with Uber seeing a 20% increase in U.S. airport trips and business airport trips up almost 60% in the past two months.
Looking ahead of Q4 Uber says it anticipates gross bookings of around $26 billion and adjusted EBITDA of between $25 million and $75 million.