Uber has posted its first ever full-year profit as demand for its cabs soars.
The San Francisco-based company reported a profit of £870million for 2023 – after a loss of £1.4billion the year before.
Total revenues for the group, which also owns food delivery service Uber Eats, was up 17 per cent year-on-year to £37billion.
The company enjoyed a bumper performance in the final quarter, making more than 2.6bn journeys in the three months.
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi hailed the milestone, citing ‘a stand-out quarter to cap off a stand-out year’.
Uber reported a profit of £870m for 2023 – after a loss of £1.4bn the year before. Total revenues for the group was up 17% year-on-year to £37bn
He added that customers were ‘more engaged than ever’, with the total number of monthly users hitting a record 150m.
Uber, founded in 2009, has traditionally struggled to turn a profit as it focused on global expansion and cheap fares.
But pressure has mounted since it listed in New York in 2019.
Its taxi service suffered during the pandemic when travel was at an effective standstill.
This was offset by a strong performance from Uber Eats, which thrived during lockdown.
Khosrowshahi took over as chief executive six years ago following scandals that led to the exit of Travis Kalanick, the company’s co-founder.
He has vowed to cut costs and drive towards profitability, saying: ‘2023 was an inflection point for Uber, proving that we can continue to generate strong, profitable growth at scale.’
