The travel agent Uber has gone deep into the red due to the coronavirus crisis. In the first quarter, the loss increased year-on-year by 190 percent to $ 2.9 billion ($ 2.7 billion), as the taxi competitor announced yesterday after the US market closed. “Our service business was hit hard by the pandemic,” said Uber boss Dara Khosrowshahi.
The company increased revenue 14 percent to $ 3.5 billion. This was mainly due to the strong growth of the food delivery service Uber Eats, which is very popular in times of staying at home. However, the spread of the virus only really became noticeable at the end of the quarter, so that Uber is likely to face the greatest strains.
Thousands of jobs are deleted
It was expected that the corona virus crisis would make a billion dollar hole in the balance sheet – Uber had already announced depreciation of up to $ 2.2 billion in mid-April. The company is struggling against the drastic slump in business. Around 3,700 full-time jobs are to be cut. This would affect about 14 percent of the 26,900 employees.
The quarterly report was well received by investors, and the share rose sharply at times after the exchange. Although the loss was higher than expected, Uber’s sales were well above forecast. The group was last on the rollercoaster ride on the stock exchange – last month the share rose by 14 percent, but in the three-month perspective it is down almost 17 percent.
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