Uber CEO Says Its Business Is Stronger Than WeWork

At a New York Times DealBook conference on Wednesday (Nov. 6), Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi defended the company’s business, saying that it is viable and very different from WeWork, which recently had to call off an initial public offering (IPO) over plummeting value and troubles about work culture.

CNBC is reporting that Khosrowshahi was very adamant in the way he differentiated his company from WeWork.

“We are very, very, very different from WeWork,” Khosrowshahi said. “Fundamentally the rideshare market is of scale, is global, is an attractive business, and it’s only going to get better in a competitive market.”

The companies, however, do have some similar defining characteristics. Both were largely invested in by SoftBank, received early money from Benchmark Capital and both have operating losses of more than $1 billion a year.

Uber’s shares have struggled to reach the price they had when the firm launched its IPO. Khosrowshahi admitted that Uber has had its problems, and that he’s felt the effects of that from investors, and from the public as well. He said those pressures have forced the rideshare company to perform better, and that the company expects to see an EBITDA profit by the year 2021.

Uber’s IPO lockup agreement ends soon, and insiders will be able to sell stock, which analysts say could put pressure on the shares.

When Uber reported its Q3 earnings and its losses for the quarter, the stock went down 10 percent. Shares were down 4 percent on Wednesday. 

Notably, the revenues for Uber Eats, the food delivery option, was 64 percent, year over year,  standing at $645 million. Similarly, Uber Freight logged high double-digit percentage growth, at 78 percent, to $218 million. The company said in supplemental materials that the take rates for Rides, which were up 19 percent to $2.9 billion, were up 128 basis points (quarter over quarter) and were up 43 basis points in Eats (quarter over quarter).