- Uber recorded $470 million in operating losses on $415 million in revenue
- Leaked figures from a bond prospectus obtained by Bloomberg News
- Uber reportedly using the documents to raise $1.2 billion
- Company spokesperson said the figures were ‘old’
- Papers also say Uber is moving at a 300 percent year-over-year growth
- The app is currently operating in over 300 cities worldwide
It’s the revolutionary low-cost taxi app that has changed the way people travel the world over – and it is apparently operating at an exorbitant loss, according to some leaked figures.
Uber, the California-based ride-hailing giant worth an estimated $50 billion, is reportedly losing $470 million in international operating costs.
That figure sits with the $417 million Uber is said to be banking in revenue, leaving a negative sum of $33 million.
The numbers were made public Tuesday by Bloomberg News, which obtained documents they say were recently given to prospective Uber investors.
The documents are being used to help raise $1.2 billion so that Uber can continue its mass expansion.
It is already operating in over 300 cities.
The same leaked papers also say that Uber is moving at a 300 percent year-over-year growth after launching in 2010.
But, crucially, the numbers – particularly the losses and revenue – are not dated.
‘These are substantially old numbers that do not reflect business activities today,’ Nairi Hourdajian, an Uber spokeswoman, told Bloomberg.
According to Fortune, the ‘old’ Uber is referring to likely means 2014.
Hourdajian also confirmed the documents were not distributed by Uber.
Previously leaked documents, Fortune reported, suggested that Uber had a 2013 net revenue of $213 million.
That year they were said to have had $1 billion in gross bookings.
The leaked documents are reportedly being used to help raise $1.2 billion so that Uber can continue its mass expansion. It is now operating in over 300 cities worldwide
If both the 2013 leaked financials and the ones released today are bona fide, then – despite the major losses – Uber’s gross revenue has grown 95 percent year-over-year.
The Memo reported that Uber remains the highest valued private technology business in the world.
The leaked figures come as two Uber executives in Paris were ordered to stand trial as part of a French crackdown on what the government calls an illegal taxi service.
Thibaud Simphal, manager of Uber France, and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, general manager for western Europe, were detained by police on Monday in an investigation that earlier led to Uber’s offices being raided by police in March.
The investigation focuses on one of the company’s local transport options known as UberPOP, which allows passengers to book rides with private drivers via mobile phones, a service which licenced taxi operators say is unfair competition.
Protest: Last week, a violence-marred taxi strike blocked roads around the country as drivers protested against ride-hailing company Uber. Here riot police stand by an overthrown car
Stranded: People whose cars were blocked in traffic because of a demonstration by the taxi drivers against Uber’s UberPop service, walk along a freeway with their bags towards Charles-de-Gaulle Airport in Paris
Meanwhile, in London, Uber is facing protests by taxi groups on similar grounds.
Mayor Boris Johnson has called for a cap on the number of minicabs operating in the capital and stricter language and geography tests before Uber drivers are allowed to work in the city.
In March it was revealed that Uber cars now outnumber yellow cabs in New York City.
Figures released by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission showed 14,088 registered Uber cars compared with 13,587 yellow cabs – a difference of 500.
But it hardly means yellow cabs are out of favor. In fact, there are about 440,000 yellow cab rides a day, compared to just 20,000 to 30,000 Uber rides.
That’s because Uber drivers often own their own cars and work less than 40 hours a week, while most yellow taxis are owned by cab companies, have more than one driver and are on the road close to 24 hours a day.
‘Yellow cab rides significantly outstrip the number of black car rides,’ said Meera Joshi, chairwoman of the taxi commission. ‘So the number of their affiliated vehicles in and of itself doesn’t paint a complete picture.’
Source: Daily Mail
