(Bloomberg) — Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said the ride-hailing giant had its best week last week since the start of the pandemic.
Khosrowshahi said he’s “pretty confident” that consolidated gross bookings and adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization will be near the high end of the forecast delivered last month. Uber has seen some “local impacts” due to the omicron Covid-19 variant but on a global basis, Khosrowshahi said Uber’s ride-hailing business is nearly 90% recovered compared with pre-pandemic levels.
“The mobility business is getting better even in what is a variable environment right now,” he said at a business conference hosted by UBS Group AG.
In reporting third-quarter earnings in November, Uber said it expected adjusted Ebitda of $25 million to $75 million in the fourth quarter and gross bookings of $25 billion to $26 billion.
Khosrowshahi said that wait times for rides in the U.S. are less than five minutes and that surge levels are “significantly lower,” than they have been in recent months, citing improvements in driver supply. Customers can expect fares to remain elevated due to the current inflationary environment, he said. “Gas is more expensive. I do think the base price of anything in transportation is going to increase and that includes Uber.”
Looking ahead, Khosrowshahi expects there to be less activity for mergers and acquisitions at Uber in 2022. “We are always looking in the market for opportunities, but right now the hurdle is unusually high.”
Uber shares were up 5.2% at 12:03 p.m. in New York on Tuesday.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
