Up till now, Uber
"We recognize that the era of growth at all costs is over," Khosrowshahi said in a statement included with an earnings report released Thursday. "In a world where investors increasingly demand not just growth, but profitable growth, we are well-positioned to win through continuous innovation, excellent execution, and the unrivaled scale of our global platform."
Uber has always intended to transition into "profitable growth", but the company previously said that they wouldn't be in a position to do that until 2021.
Since Uber went public in May, it has lost at least $1 billion each quarter. In the second quarter of 2019 alone, the company lost a staggering $5.2 billion, its biggest loss ever. This represents a 24% increase in losses compared to the year before. However, while losses increased, so did revenues. Uber posted revenue of $4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 37% increase over the previous year.
Uber's consistent losses have made it a challenge for the company to find investors, and this new announcement was undoubtedly meant to reassure Wall Street. After the earnings report was released, Uber shares rose by as much as 10%, but they still fell short of the company's IPO price of $45.
Uber has been trying a few different methods already to turn around its finances. The ride-hailing service has carried out several rounds of layoffs since it went public in May, cutting 1,100 positions across the entirety of the company. In India, Uber sold off its food delivery service to the food app Zomato in all-stock deal in an effort to show their "strategic discipline". Uber also reminded shareholders that they are globally the most downloaded app for both ride-sharing and food delivery, in the Q4 report.
Uber Eats has been a costly endeavor for the company. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Eats saw revenue growth of 68% to $734 million, but they also reported losses of $461 million.
