Uber reported its third-quarter results on Wednesday morning, and the headline is that people keep using it more than ever. Gross bookings, the total value of every ride, delivery, and freight order on the platform, hit $59.8 billion. That's up 20% from a year ago and marks the fifth straight quarter of 20%-plus growth.
The details are solid across the board. Rides brought in $29.5 billion in bookings, and delivery added $28.5 billion. Trips rose 16% to 4.1 billion, and monthly active users grew 14% to 215 million. Revenue climbed 10% to $14.8 billion, though Uber says changes to how some of its business is structured shaved about 8 points off that growth. Adjusted EBITDA rose 31% to $3 billion, and free cash flow was $2.5 billion.
You might see headlines about Uber's profit crashing, so here's the context. Net income fell to $512 million from $6.6 billion a year earlier. But last year's number was inflated by a one-time $4.9 billion tax benefit and a $1.5 billion gain on its investments. This year Uber took a $476 million loss on those same investments. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share rose 35% to 88 cents.
The real focus is autonomy. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber expects about 700 fully driverless vehicles on its platform by the end of this year and more than 2,000 in 2027. He said the company's focus on self-driving cars has moved to "commercial execution," which is a fancy way of saying it's time to make money from them.
For the holiday quarter, Uber expects bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion and adjusted earnings of 95 to 99 cents a share.
