Feb. 7 (UPI) — The ride-sharing company Uber has posted a profit for the first time since going public in 2019, the company announced Wednesday.
The company posted a net income of $1.43 billion in the fourth quarter after the benefit of $1 billion from investors, Uber said in a statement. This marks the first time that Uber has earned money from its operations.
The company reported $595 million in profit during the same period last year and the profit announcement was higher than Wall Street had anticipated.
“2023 was an inflection point for Uber, proving that we can continue to generate strong, profitable growth at scale,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement Wednesday. “Our audiences are larger and more engaged than ever, with our platform powering an average of nearly 26 million daily trips last year.”
Following several financially tenuous years, the company shifted its focus to cost cutting and bolstering its food-delivery services after years of prioritizing growth over profit.
Uber invested in its Uber Eats platform during the pandemic when the number of rideshare customers was down but food delivery orders were up sharply as many restaurants were forced to close and people did not leave their houses and ordered food online to be delivered.
Uber’s revenue was also up over the same period last year to $9.9 billion, a 15% jump, slightly surpassing Wall Street’s projections of $9.75 billion.
Uber’s gross bookings amounted to $37.6 billion, up 22% year-over-year, the company said.
Uber recently announced it would suspend the alcohol delivery service on its app known as Drizzly at the end of March to focus even more heavily on Uber Eats.
