Uber Informs Investors That Bookings Will Rise As Losses Decline

Uber told investors to expect bookings to increase and losses to narrow during its first presentation to shareholders since Travis Kalanick was pushed out as the company’s CEO.

According to news from Fortune, over the course of a 15-minute conference call, Uber executives predicted that Uber app bookings — which saw a gross increase of 10 percent in Q1 2017 on the previous quarter — would continue to rise and that losses would keep on narrowing.

The carsharing company’s attorney also reportedly said that the company could reach a settlement on a lawsuit over self-driving cars from Alphabet’s Waymo before the scheduled court date in October. An emailed statement from Waymo, however, made no mention of a potential settlement. Instead, it stated that the company believes “we have strong evidence to put in front of a jury about Uber’s misappropriation of Waymo’s trade secrets and look forward to trial.”

Uber’s Tuesday conference call was meant to ease shareholder concerns following a difficult time for the ridesharing company, which has been good news for carsharing competitor Lyft. Allegations of sexual harassment from former employees, as well as the Waymo lawsuit and increased competition, all led to Kalanick’s ousting.

In the last quarter of 2016, Uber lost $991 million before interest, taxes and stock-based compensation. In Q1 2017, it lost $708 million. While Uber reportedly told investors that losses would narrow further, the ridesharing company didn’t say by how much.

It’s been reported that one way Uber might alleviate its deficit is by raising Uber app booking fees in the U.S. and Canada. The fee — which accounts for about $1.50 to $3 of a each fare and is not shared with drivers — was raised by between $0.15 and $0.50 per ride last week, depending on the city.

“We’re fortunate to have a healthy and growing business, giving us the room to make the changes we know are needed on management and accountability, our culture and organization, and our relationship with drivers,” an Uber spokesman said in an emailed statement.