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Uber posts lower first-quarter loss of $708M as head of finance departs
Uber Technologies Inc. has lost yet another of its top executives, the company announced on the back of revealing its first quarter losses.
The ride-hailing giant told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that its total first quarter losses amounted to the princely sum of $708 million, down from a loss of $991 million in the fourth quarter. “The narrowing of our losses in the first quarter puts us on a good trajectory towards profitability,” an Uber spokesperson said. The company said revenue rose 18 percent, to $3.4 billion.
Uber also announced that its head of finance, Gautam Gupta, is leaving the company. While Gupta never actually held the title of Chief Financial Officer, sources inside Uber have stated that the ride-hailing giant is looking for someone to fill that role. They also said the role would be suitable for someone with public company savvy, provoking more speculation that the uber-valuable privately held company will very soon be going public.
Although Uber is facing all manner of internal and external problems, and in spite of a group of formidable competitors, it is still by far the dominant company in this market. Despite suffering heavy losses, Uber is valued at $69 billion. The bet is on ride-hailing completely usurping the regular taxi business in the near future, while Uber’s autonomous vehicle aspirations could also be a future boost for the bottom line.
On top of Uber’s myriad problems, including sexual harassment investigations and a court case over alleged stolen technology from a competitor, Uber has been losing top executives at a rapid rate. Chief Executive Travis Kalanick lost his vice president of global public policy and communications, Rachel Whetstone, in April, which was perhaps indicative of the difficulty of putting a positive spin on a company submerged in negative controversies.
Only a month prior to Whetstone’s departure, Uber lost President Jeff Jones and top engineering exec Brian McClendon. Two other execs were earlier asked to resign based on allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment.
Image: Núcleo Editorial via Flickr
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