Uber’s financial results in the first quarter of 2021 are far from positive, but there was a significant improvement during the first three months of last year. According to the figures released on Wednesday (5), the company recorded a net loss of $ 108 million in the period from January to March, compared to $ 2.9 billion in the same period last year.
Although the company’s delivery service has generated revenues of $ 1.7 billion (an increase of 230% year-on-year), profits for traveling by Uber continued to weaken due to the Coronavirus epidemic and decreased by $ 2.4 billion, recorded last year, to reach To dollars. 852 million in the first three months of this year. Revenue from all sectors combined for the company decreased by 11% compared to the first quarter of last year and reached $ 2.9 billion.
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The reduction in the company’s losses was hit hard by the sale of Uber’s autonomous car division, which happened in December last year. At the time, the company sold its Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) unit to start the Aurora operation and was able to raise about $ 1.6 billion through the deal.
Additionally, there has been a focus on Uber Eats food delivery service, although this segment is not the company’s flagship. The platform exceeded the mark of 700,000 registered merchants in the first quarter of this year. It has also been agreed to partner with Gopuff to offer more convenience items from June 2021.
“We finally see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Dara Khosrowshahi, the company’s chief executive, said in a conference call with investors. “Uber has started to take off as more consumers travel with us again, while continuing to use our expanded delivery offerings,” he added.
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Taking into account the relatively better numbers than those reported in the fourth quarter of 2020, Uber is seeing a resumption of growth, albeit in a slow way.
At the same time that travel on the platform is unstable quarter by quarter, the company is struggling to hire more drivers and meet demand after covid-19 vaccines and easing restrictions. The company announced in April that it would spend about $ 250 million to get drivers back on the road, not for nothing.
Uber has yet to avoid further legal deadlocks. In the first quarter of this year, the UK Supreme Court upheld the decision that the company’s drivers were independent workers, not contractors. The stalemate resulted in an approximate loss of $ 600 million to Uber.
If the same procedure is followed in the United States, the company’s resumption may be stopped altogether. However, Uber executives believe that Joe Biden’s assumption of the US presidency may open new space for dialogue.
Source: CNBC
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