Uber grows bookings but faces a tougher driver-supply test
Revenue rises 10%, while the company points to fuel costs and driver availability as constraints.
Uber reported 10% revenue growth for the third quarter Wednesday, but rising fuel costs and tighter driver availability complicated the outlook for its ride-hailing business.
Revenue reached $14.77 billion, while gross bookings grew 20% to about $59.8 billion. The two measures describe different things: bookings reflect the value of transactions on the platform, while revenue is the amount the company records from its businesses.
Management said elevated fuel prices and driver shortages weighed on supply in several international markets. The company is making targeted investments to strengthen driver availability, a reminder that growth in customer demand still needs enough drivers to serve it.
For the fourth quarter, Uber forecast adjusted earnings of 95 cents to 99 cents a share and gross bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion. The earnings range was below the $1.06 analyst estimate cited by Reuters.
Uber also said it expects roughly 700 fully driverless vehicles on its platform by year-end and more than 2,000 by the end of 2027. Those are company expectations, not vehicles already operating at that scale.
The near-term question is how well Uber can expand supply without letting the cost of doing so outpace growth. Autonomous vehicles are part of its longer-term plans, but the current quarter still turns on drivers, fuel and the economics of each trip.
