“When I joined the company in 2018, Dara asked me to lead the financial transformation of the company,” Chai said in a statement. “As you can see from our Q2 results, that transformation has occurred. I am very proud of the great work we have all accomplished and thank Dara for his partnership.”
San Francisco-based Uber shares have doubled in the last year, a stark divergence in performance from Lyft Inc., which has struggled to fully recover from the effects of Covid-19. Unlike Uber, Lyft only operates in North America and doesn’t have a food-delivery unit.
Earlier this year, Uber’s crosstown rival installed a new chief executive officer and lowered prices to stem market share losses to Uber. Uber accounted for 74 percent of the U.S. consumer ride-share sales at the end of June, while Lyft had 26 percent, according to Bloomberg Second Measure. The company is scheduled to report results next week.
When the pandemic crushed demand for rides, Uber’s decision to focus on Uber Eats helped it gain a foothold in the meal delivery sector which has continued to grow, even as indoor dining has resumed. Uber Eats generated $3.06 billion in revenue, slightly below Wall Street’s estimates, but better-than-expected adjusted Ebitda of $329 million as the unit benefitted from advertising. Customers seem to have been undeterred by higher prices for food, with delivery frequency of four monthly orders per eater, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
Total revenue jumped 14 percent to $9.2 billion during the period, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That narrowly missed the $9.3 billion analysts were expecting, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Uber generated $33.6 billion in gross bookings, which include ride hailing, food delivery and freight. That was up 16% from a year earlier and beat the $33.5 billion Wall Street had forecast.
Uber’s freight unit dragged on the company’s overall results. The division, which accounts for less than a quarter of total revenue, saw bookings and sales tumble 30 percent in the quarter. Uber said the unit is pressured by “category-wide headwinds,” with spot rates seasonally weak, a trend it expects to continue in the near term.
