Uber Technologies, Inc., commonly known as Uber, is an American technology company that offers services including ride-hailing, food delivery (Uber Eats), package delivery, couriers, freight transportation. This company is one of those which is uniquely suited to the digital-first economy. This was proved with the company’s earnings since its fourth-quarter and full-year results took the measure of Uber’s business model and the potential impact of recent acquisitions.
A summary of accounts shows the friction between Uber and Uber Eats and places it in the context of the company’s future, which will include recent acquisitions by Drizly and Postmates. Overall, Uber reported a net loss of $6.76 billion for 2020, compared with an $8.5 billion loss in 2019. However, revenue for the year went down from 14% to 411.13 billion. Perhaps the best way to look at the company’s numbers is through the lens of gross bookings: Delivery Gross Bookings grew 128 percent over 2019, and Mobility Gross Bookings declined 47 percent as the digital shift kept people away from traveling and away from groceries and restaurants. In December, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the annual delivery bookings hit an annualized rate of $44 billion.
Related – Uber creates opportunity through movement; acquires Drizly, alcohol delivery startup for $1.1 B
Khosrowshahi is optimistic about Uber’s future more than ever despite the uncertain external environment. He believes that he has established not only the world’s largest mobility platform with a leading position but also the world’s largest food delivery platform as well in just a matter of 5 years. This food delivery platform has been made big even outside of China which is growing substantially faster than the category, and which they are using to demand to expand into high potential adjacencies. These two platforms are synergistic and are powered by many common components.
Despite the dip faced in 2020, the company is in the hopes that the digital shifts common components and the expected pandemic recovery will converge to bring the mobility business back to 2019 levels and will continue to drive the “bring it to me” economy.
For Uber (mobility side) a few features have been added to the service during 2020 to show some traction like-
- Uber Reserve- service offering premium reservation opportunities.
- Uber transit- service enables riders to plan and travel trips across transit platforms.
Uber for Business bookings grew 45 percent in Q4 over Q3. Total platform customers across all mobile and delivery grew to 93 million in Q4. On average, the monthly active consumer spent over $60 across more than 5 transactions on Uber’s platform.
However, it is the Uber Eats service that has all the excitement on the call. Restaurants now on the platform topped 600k, with 100k coming from the Postmates acquisition, which closed on Dec. 1. Grocery and non-food deliveries grew to a $1.5 billion rate for the year. Gross Bookings and Revenue grew triple digits year-over-year, with EMEA up 144 percent and the U.S. and Canada up 142 percent. Khosrowshahi said he welcomed the intense competition in the delivery space.
Khosrowshahi also addressed the Drizly acquisition, noting that the regulatory environment for the company is different from state to state. “We saw that the Drizly team built fast and built profitably,” he said. “So I think putting together like a product that has a first-class merchant base that is highly penetrated and introducing them to the giant audience that we have is a pretty powerful combination.”
