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Transaction volume is an important metric for tracking the growth of the business, but it is not revenue. The fact that the funds go through Uber's account has
by saas_co_de 9y ago
Transaction volume is an important metric for tracking the growth of the business, but it is not revenue.
The fact that the funds go through Uber's account has nothing to do with it.
See Uber's terms of service:
"with respect to Third Party Providers, Charges you incur will be owed directly to Third Party Providers, and Uber will collect payment of those charges from you, on the Third Party Provider’s behalf as their limited payment collection agent"
https://www.uber.com/legal/terms/us/ https://www.uber.com/legal/terms/us/
Bookings are not revenue, which is why Uber can't call them revenue, but then wtf is "Contra Revenue" and how does Bookings - Contra Revenue = Net Revenue?
Basic math: 5 Apples - 2 Oranges != 3 Oranges
- hn_throwaway_99 9y agoYou may think this, but coming from an analogous business I can say virtually all "middlemen" market-making companies (think online travel agents like Booking.com or Expedia) track like this: start at the top with Gross Bookings, then make a bunch of deductions to Net Revenue. And in truth it gives a more accurate picture of the business, because the "Take Rate", that is Net Revenue/Gross Bookings, is an important metric in and of itself.
- brucephillips 9y agoNitpick: Companies like Uber and and Expedia are brokers, not market makers.
- saas_co_de 9y ago> virtually all Provide a link to the annual report for a single public company that does this and I will accept your claim. Edit: See the annual report for Priceline which owns Booking.com, Kayak, etc. http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/PCLN/5793618865x0xS1075531-17-9/1075531/filing.pdf http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/PCLN/5793618865x0xS10... P.33 They report real revenue of 10.7B with no mention bookings P.41 They report gross bookings of 68B for the same period
- hn_throwaway_99 9y agoI think you are confusing the data presented by WSJ with an audited SEC financial report. Uber didn't make anything public - this is just data they presented, privately, to their investors who obviously know the difference. I mean, this data was leaked to WSJ. As a better comparison, here is the data Expedia puts out on an earnings release: https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/EXPE/5068357871x0x927398/D6FADF0D-8265-4833-9C34-8BF23AFA21E6/Q4_2016_Earnings_Release.pdf https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/EXPE/5068357871x0x92...