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It's been a recurring topic of conversation whether Uber would ever reach this milestone. The S&P 500 requires members of the index to be profitable in the late

It's been a recurring topic of conversation whether Uber would ever reach this milestone. The S&P 500 requires members of the index to be profitable in the latest quarter and over the past year, which Uber achieved for the first time in Q3. Uber reported net income of $221 million on $9.29 billion in revenue in the third quarter, and in the past four quarters altogether it generated over $1 billion in profit.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
Interesting what GAAP allow one to call profits: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/uber-may-achieve-profitability-despite-the-clickbait-headlines https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/uber-may-achieve-profitabili...
- candiddevmike 3y ago
  > It took a $756 million pre-tax (non-cash) net benefit of unrealized gains related to reevaluating its equity investments. It means their stake in other companies had seen an appreciation in value, which the Company didn't sell or take profits as in unrealized gains and doesn't account for taxes as in pre-tax. > The Company gained nothing and remains a bagholder in its equity investments, including DiDi, Aurora, Grab Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GRAB), and Zomato stakes. Uber is turning into a financial company like other transportation giants (Delta, AA). Maybe for the best, as I think everyone understands that self driving Uber is a pipedream.
  - paul7986 3y ago
    Indeed though Waymo hasn't had any big accidents unless they are keeping them on the down low and or paying lots to the right people.
    - candiddevmike 3y ago
      Waymo isn't Uber. And I doubt Uber will evere be/acquire Waymo...
      - rsaesha 3y ago
        What is specifically stopping Uber from providing an autonomous driver service so hard to warrant being classified as a pipedream event?
        kevinventullo 3y ago
        Not OP, but Uber recently announced a partnership with Wayno: https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2023/Waymo-and-Uber-Partner-to-Bring-Waymos-Autonomous-Driving-Technology-to-the-Uber-Platform/default.aspx https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-det... Not a nail in the coffin, but it doesn’t exactly spark confidence in their own efforts.
        fyrn_ 3y ago
        Selling off their self driving division in 2020 is probably the more telling sign for their own efforts
        cloudwalking 3y ago
        Uber sold its autonomous division to Aurora in 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-atg-idUSKBN28H2RX/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-atg-idUSKBN28H2RX/ Uber's self-driving dreams rest on a partnership with Waymo (and whoever else eventually produces a safe autonomous vehicle).
        wubrr 3y ago
        If they made self driving with the same quality as they made their apps, they'd get shut down pretty fast.
- granzymes 3y ago
  Uber would have met the inclusion criteria for the S&P500 regardless of the increase in unrealized equity gains it reported last year in Q4. Notably, this quarters $221 million in profit was not driven by unrealized gains.
  - viscanti 3y ago
    After hearing for years how Uber is a scam and will never be profitable, I guess it makes sense there's some moving of the goalposts here.
    - wubrr 3y ago
      ubereats is actually kind of a scam though. They lie about some of their promotions, they lie about their delivery times and 'latest delivery by' times, they lie about 'uber cash credit', and they lie about refunds. I've noticed this stuff occasionally over the years, and started collecting the evidence recently... it happens a lot more often than you'd think.
      - atom_arranger 3y ago
        They calculate tips after fees and before discounts, so customers are tricked into tipping more. First noticed this after getting a buy one get one free deal and seeing a tip calculated at 2X what I'd expect
        wubrr 3y ago
        Yup, they will shower you with 'promo' offers like '2 for 1' (where the price is typically just doubled for a single item anyway), then try to charge you like a 36% tip. They also straight up steal many of the tips from their delivery people as evidenced my many such threads/concerns online. https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/xyk7cx/uber_stealing_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/xyk7cx/uber_st... In general, never tip on ubereats.
        RobAtticus 3y ago
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Interesting what GAAP allow one to call profits If you want unfuckable metrics, look at cash flow. Uber's operations are cash-flow positive [1]. [1] https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2023/q3/earnings-result/Uber-Q3-23-Earnings-Press-Release.pdf https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2023/q3/e...
  - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
    Cash flow less share compensation tends to work better for tech companies.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > Cash flow less share compensation Shares aren’t cash. No need to double count.
      - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
        They're not free though, there's a cost to providing them. The point (which was made somewhere by Unhedged in the FT (but I am failing at finding the article)) is that cash flow is somewhat deceptive for companies that compensate their employees with cash.
paulpauper 3y ago
and in the past four quarters altogether it generated over $1 billion in profit. Yup...that's why the stock has done so well despite the insistence or chorus by the media since 2010 of how Uber is going to go bankrupt or burning cash. It's like Tesla in this regard--years of losses on capital expenditures--followed by huge and sudden profit as the initial capital outlay pays off massively.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago

Interesting what GAAP allow one to call profits: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/uber-may-achieve-profitability-despite-the-clickbait-headlines https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/uber-may-achieve-profitabili...

candiddevmike 3y ago
> It took a $756 million pre-tax (non-cash) net benefit of unrealized gains related to reevaluating its equity investments. It means their stake in other companies had seen an appreciation in value, which the Company didn't sell or take profits as in unrealized gains and doesn't account for taxes as in pre-tax. > The Company gained nothing and remains a bagholder in its equity investments, including DiDi, Aurora, Grab Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GRAB), and Zomato stakes. Uber is turning into a financial company like other transportation giants (Delta, AA). Maybe for the best, as I think everyone understands that self driving Uber is a pipedream.
- paul7986 3y ago
  Indeed though Waymo hasn't had any big accidents unless they are keeping them on the down low and or paying lots to the right people.
  - candiddevmike 3y ago
    Waymo isn't Uber. And I doubt Uber will evere be/acquire Waymo...
    - rsaesha 3y ago
      What is specifically stopping Uber from providing an autonomous driver service so hard to warrant being classified as a pipedream event?
      - kevinventullo 3y ago
        Not OP, but Uber recently announced a partnership with Wayno: https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2023/Waymo-and-Uber-Partner-to-Bring-Waymos-Autonomous-Driving-Technology-to-the-Uber-Platform/default.aspx https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-det... Not a nail in the coffin, but it doesn’t exactly spark confidence in their own efforts.
        fyrn_ 3y ago
        Selling off their self driving division in 2020 is probably the more telling sign for their own efforts
      - cloudwalking 3y ago
        Uber sold its autonomous division to Aurora in 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-atg-idUSKBN28H2RX/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-atg-idUSKBN28H2RX/ Uber's self-driving dreams rest on a partnership with Waymo (and whoever else eventually produces a safe autonomous vehicle).
      - wubrr 3y ago
        If they made self driving with the same quality as they made their apps, they'd get shut down pretty fast.
granzymes 3y ago
Uber would have met the inclusion criteria for the S&P500 regardless of the increase in unrealized equity gains it reported last year in Q4. Notably, this quarters $221 million in profit was not driven by unrealized gains.
- viscanti 3y ago
  After hearing for years how Uber is a scam and will never be profitable, I guess it makes sense there's some moving of the goalposts here.
  - wubrr 3y ago
    ubereats is actually kind of a scam though. They lie about some of their promotions, they lie about their delivery times and 'latest delivery by' times, they lie about 'uber cash credit', and they lie about refunds. I've noticed this stuff occasionally over the years, and started collecting the evidence recently... it happens a lot more often than you'd think.
    - atom_arranger 3y ago
      They calculate tips after fees and before discounts, so customers are tricked into tipping more. First noticed this after getting a buy one get one free deal and seeing a tip calculated at 2X what I'd expect
      - wubrr 3y ago
        Yup, they will shower you with 'promo' offers like '2 for 1' (where the price is typically just doubled for a single item anyway), then try to charge you like a 36% tip. They also straight up steal many of the tips from their delivery people as evidenced my many such threads/concerns online. https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/xyk7cx/uber_stealing_tips/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/xyk7cx/uber_st... In general, never tip on ubereats.
      - RobAtticus 3y ago
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Interesting what GAAP allow one to call profits If you want unfuckable metrics, look at cash flow. Uber's operations are cash-flow positive [1]. [1] https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2023/q3/earnings-result/Uber-Q3-23-Earnings-Press-Release.pdf https://s23.q4cdn.com/407969754/files/doc_earnings/2023/q3/e...
- disgruntledphd2 3y ago
  Cash flow less share compensation tends to work better for tech companies.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > Cash flow less share compensation Shares aren’t cash. No need to double count.
    - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
      They're not free though, there's a cost to providing them. The point (which was made somewhere by Unhedged in the FT (but I am failing at finding the article)) is that cash flow is somewhat deceptive for companies that compensate their employees with cash.

paulpauper 3y ago

and in the past four quarters altogether it generated over $1 billion in profit. Yup...that's why the stock has done so well despite the insistence or chorus by the media since 2010 of how Uber is going to go bankrupt or burning cash. It's like Tesla in this regard--years of losses on capital expenditures--followed by huge and sudden profit as the initial capital outlay pays off massively.