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If you look at the Uber 2019 annual report, page 64, you can see that revenue was $14.1B, cost of revenue was $7.1B, and sales and marketing was $4.6B. $14.1B

If you look at the Uber 2019 annual report, page 64, you can see that revenue was $14.1B, cost of revenue was $7.1B, and sales and marketing was $4.6B. $14.1B - $7.1B - $4.6B = $2.4B Driver bonuses fall under cost of revenue, and user promotions fall under sales and marketing. It’s only after subtracting other overhead that the company becomes unprofitable. Other overhead includes operations and support, research and development, and general administrative. If you read the descriptions of these categories it becomes apparent that they are going to need to lay people off if they cut spending there. Sales and marketing also includes a lot of headcount. All the above math includes both rides and eats. There are other numbers in the annual report that show that rides is making more money overall while other areas are losing more.

yashap 6y ago
For those wondering where the rest of the $$$ went, the main other costs were about $5.8 billion to R&D, and $3.3 billion to “General and Administrative.” Although, R&D costs were very inflated in Q2, due to stock payouts and whatnot related to the IPO, in the other quarters R&D costs were well below Sales and Marketing. So normally “cost of revenue” and “sales and marketing” would be the top two categories, then R&D. Realistically, they need to cut from pretty much everywhere, especially with revenue tanking during COVID. Even without that one-time IPO related payout of about $3.6 billion last year, they still would’ve burnt ~$5 billion. Their losses this year, with massively decreased revenue due to COVID, could probably be $10+ billion (if they didn’t lay people off). That’d be for non-IPO costs staying static while revenue drops ~35%. And I believe their nest egg is only ~$10 billion, so that’s very roughly around 1 year of runway, much too short. They need to cut a LOT of costs.
three_seagrass 6y ago
In 2019, Uber's selling and gen admin costs were $7.9B though, which was more than their gross profits of $6.9B.

yashap 6y ago

For those wondering where the rest of the $$$ went, the main other costs were about $5.8 billion to R&D, and $3.3 billion to “General and Administrative.” Although, R&D costs were very inflated in Q2, due to stock payouts and whatnot related to the IPO, in the other quarters R&D costs were well below Sales and Marketing. So normally “cost of revenue” and “sales and marketing” would be the top two categories, then R&D. Realistically, they need to cut from pretty much everywhere, especially with revenue tanking during COVID. Even without that one-time IPO related payout of about $3.6 billion last year, they still would’ve burnt ~$5 billion. Their losses this year, with massively decreased revenue due to COVID, could probably be $10+ billion (if they didn’t lay people off). That’d be for non-IPO costs staying static while revenue drops ~35%. And I believe their nest egg is only ~$10 billion, so that’s very roughly around 1 year of runway, much too short. They need to cut a LOT of costs.

three_seagrass 6y ago

In 2019, Uber's selling and gen admin costs were $7.9B though, which was more than their gross profits of $6.9B.