Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER)

Uber’s financial performance for Q1 2025 demonstrated continuing momentum across key metrics, with Gross Bookings growing 14% year-over-year to $42.8 billion (18% on a constant currency basis). The company reported revenue of $11.5 billion, reflecting a 14% year-over-year increase (17% on a constant currency basis), driven by growth across both Mobility and Delivery segments.

Income from operations showed dramatic improvement, reaching $1.2 billion, up $1.1 billion compared to Q1 2024. This significant enhancement in operational profitability highlights Uber’s successful execution of its strategy to drive profitable growth at scale. Net income attributable to Uber Technologies was $1.8 billion, which represented a substantial improvement from the net loss of $654 million reported in the prior-year quarter. The current quarter’s net income includes a $51 million net benefit from revaluations of Uber’s equity investments, compared to a $721 million net headwind in Q1 2024.

Adjusted EBITDA, a key profitability metric for the company, increased 35% year-over-year to $1.9 billion, representing a margin of 4.4% of Gross Bookings, up from 3.7% in the prior-year quarter. This improvement in Adjusted EBITDA margin demonstrates Uber’s enhanced operational efficiency and disciplined cost management as the business continues to scale.

Uber’s cash generation capabilities showed significant improvement, with net cash provided by operating activities increasing 64% year-over-year to $2.3 billion. Free cash flow, defined as net cash flows from operating activities less capital expenditures, grew 66% to $2.3 billion, providing the company with substantial financial flexibility to invest in future growth opportunities and return capital to shareholders.

The balance sheet remained strong, with $6.0 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter. This solid financial position enables Uber to pursue strategic initiatives while maintaining operational stability in various market conditions.

Uber demonstrated strong operational performance in the first quarter of 2025, with trips growing 18% year-over-year to 3.0 billion. This growth was driven by both an increase in Monthly Active Platform Consumers (MAPCs) and greater engagement from existing users.

MAPCs, which represent the number of unique consumers who completed a Mobility ride or received a Delivery order in a given month (averaged over the quarter), increased 14% year-over-year to 170 million. This substantial growth in Uber’s consumer base reflects the company’s successful expansion strategies and the continued adoption of its platform across global markets.

User engagement also showed positive trends, with monthly trips per MAPC growing 3% year-over-year. This metric highlights Uber’s ability to drive increased usage among its existing customer base through enhanced service offerings and platform improvements. As noted by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company also observed stronger user retention, further supporting the robust growth in trips.

The combination of expanding the user base while simultaneously increasing the frequency of platform usage demonstrates Uber’s successful execution of its growth strategy. This dual-pronged approach provides a solid foundation for continued expansion and positions the company well for sustainable long-term growth across its core business segments.

Mobility segment continued its strong performance with Gross Bookings of $21.2 billion, up 13% year-over-year (20% on a constant currency basis), and revenue of $6.5 billion, up 15% year-over-year (18% on a constant currency basis). The segment’s Adjusted EBITDA grew 19% year-over-year to $1.8 billion, demonstrating Uber’s ability to drive profitable growth in its core ride-hailing business. This performance reflects strong consumer demand for Uber’s Mobility services across global markets.

Delivery segment showed impressive results with Gross Bookings of $20.4 billion, up 15% year-over-year (18% on a constant currency basis), and revenue of $3.8 billion, up 18% year-over-year (22% on a constant currency basis). The segment’s Adjusted EBITDA exhibited substantial growth, increasing 45% year-over-year to $763 million. This significant improvement in profitability highlights Uber’s successful efforts to enhance operational efficiency in its Delivery business while maintaining strong top-line growth.

Freight segment faced some challenges with Gross Bookings and revenue both declining 2% year-over-year to $1.3 billion (1% decline on a constant currency basis). However, the segment showed meaningful improvement in profitability, with Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowing to $7 million from a loss of $21 million in Q1 2024, representing a 67% improvement. This reduction in losses demonstrates progress in Uber’s efforts to optimize its Freight operations despite the challenging market conditions affecting the segment’s revenue performance.

Corporate G&A and Platform R&D expenses, which include costs not directly attributable to the reportable segments, increased 6% year-over-year to $641 million. These investments support Uber’s technological infrastructure, mapping capabilities, payment technologies, and other shared functions essential for the company’s long-term growth and innovation.

Overall, the segment performance demonstrates Uber’s ability to drive growth and improved profitability across its core businesses, with particularly strong results in Mobility and Delivery, which together account for approximately 97% of the company’s Gross Bookings.

Uber’s cash flow generation capabilities demonstrated significant improvement in Q1 2025:

Cash Flow Highlights

• Operating Cash Flow: $2.3 billion, up 64% year-over-year from $1.4 billion in Q1 2024
• Free Cash Flow: $2.3 billion, up 66% year-over-year from $1.4 billion in Q1 2024
• Capital Expenditures: $74 million, compared to $57 million in Q1 2024

The substantial increase in operating cash flow was driven by improved operational performance across Uber’s business segments, particularly in Mobility and Delivery. The conversion of Adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow remained exceptionally strong, reflecting the capital-light nature of Uber’s business model and efficient working capital management.

Balance Sheet Position

• Cash and Cash Equivalents: $5.1 billion as of March 31, 2025
• Short-term Investments: $894 million as of March 31, 2025
• Total Unrestricted Cash Position: $6.0 billion
• Long-term Debt: $8.4 billion as of March 31, 2025

Uber’s strong balance sheet position provides the company with significant financial flexibility to invest in growth initiatives, pursue strategic opportunities, and navigate potential market uncertainties. The robust cash generation demonstrated in Q1 2025 further enhances Uber’s financial position and supports the company’s ability to fund its operations while investing in future growth.

During the quarter, Uber repurchased $1.8 billion of its common stock, demonstrating the company’s commitment to returning capital to shareholders while maintaining a strong financial position. This disciplined approach to capital allocation, as highlighted by CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, supports Uber’s strategy to drive greater financial durability while funding growth initiatives.

Uber provided the following guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2025:

Q2 2025 Guidance

• Gross Bookings: $45.75 billion to $47.25 billion, representing growth of 16% to 20% year-over-year on a constant currency basis
• Currency Impact: Approximately 1.5 percentage point headwind to total reported year-over-year growth (including approximately 3 percentage point headwind to Mobility)
• Adjusted EBITDA: $2.02 billion to $2.12 billion, representing 29% to 35% year-over-year growth

The Q2 2025 outlook reflects Uber’s confidence in continued strong performance across its core business segments, with expectations for accelerating Gross Bookings growth on a year-over-year basis. The projected growth in Adjusted EBITDA indicates ongoing margin expansion and operational efficiency improvements as the business continues to scale.

Strategic Initiatives

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi highlighted several strategic initiatives that position Uber for future growth:

• Autonomous Vehicle Development: The company announced five new autonomous vehicle partnerships in the week preceding the earnings release, demonstrating Uber’s commitment to building toward the future of transportation
• Core Business Strength: Uber’s strategic focus remains on leveraging the consistent strength of its core business to fund investments in future growth opportunities
• User Retention: The company reported stronger user retention, which supports sustainable long-term growth by reducing customer acquisition costs and increasing lifetime value

CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah emphasized Uber’s disciplined approach to capital allocation, with a focus on driving greater financial durability while delivering industry-leading cash flow growth. This balanced approach to financial management supports Uber’s ability to invest in strategic initiatives while maintaining strong profitability and returns to shareholders.

The company’s guidance and strategic initiatives underscore management’s confidence in Uber’s ability to maintain robust growth while continuing to enhance profitability and cash flow generation, positioning the company well for sustained success in the evolving mobility and delivery markets.