Although Uber isn’t yet a public company, its financials are still fairly public information. Like most public companies, management still has a conference call with investors every three months. It just doesn’t quite attract the attention as it would if the company was publicly traded.
Results for the first six months came out on Thursday, and they weren’t pretty. Management revealed Uber lost $1.27 billion in the first half of the year. Second quarter results were even worse than the first quarter, with the loss widening from $520 million to at least $750 million.
Gautam Gupta, the head of Uber’s finance department, told investors most of the loss was from subsidies to Uber’s drivers. By keeping driver compensation generous, the popular ride sharing app can ensure customers aren’t kept waiting too long.
These losses aren’t a new phenomenon for Uber. In 2015, according to reports, the company lost at least $2 billion. In the short life of the company, Uber has lost at least $4 billion. No other tech company has posted losses so deep for such a long period of time.
Much of the red ink has been caused by Uber’s presence in China, with people close to the company saying $2 billion of its total losses have been from the country. In July, Uber struck a deal with Didi Chuxing, which resulted in the two companies agreeing to stop competing in China. This should decrease losses going forward.
Uber’s latest round of financing put its valuation at $69 billion, a huge number for a company currently losing money. But it is well capitalized with some $8 billion in cash and another $1 billion on the way.
