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Uber Technologies Inc. shares were hammered in after-hours trading Thursday after the ride-hailing giant reported a loss of $5.2 billion for the quarter ending June 30, the largest loss the company has ever reported.

For the second quarter ended June 30, Uber underperformed analysts’ expectations on most fronts. Revenue came in at $3.17 billion versus a prediction of $3.36 billion while loss per share came to $4.72, way under an average prediction of $3.12.

“Monthly active platform consumers,” a figure Uber users to describe ride-hailing, Uber Eats and bike renting customers, hit 99 million for the quarter, up 30% over a year ago, while “trips” that include various Uber services rose 35%, to 1.677 billion.

Like Lyft, which reported its financials Wednesday, much of Uber’s loss was from stock-based compensation payments following its initial public offering in May. Excluding those payments, Uber’s loss was about $1.3 billion, still large but nowhere nearly as bad as the headline figure.

“We think that 2019 will be our peak investment year and we think that 2020, 2021, you’ll see losses come down,” Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured) told CNBC. “We can push the company to break even if we really wanted to, frankly…. No doubt in my mind that the business will eventually be a break-even and profitable business.”

The only positive in the report was gross bookings, which came in at $12.19 billion for the quarter, ahead of Wall Street estimates of $12.11 billion. Within that figure, Uber Eats continues to grow, with revenue of $3.39 billion in gross bookings.

“The Eats business is still a business that carries very significant growth going forward and that continues to attract a lot of capital,” Khosrowshahi told CNBC. “Not just in the U.S., but all over the world.”

Uber’s financials come just shy of two weeks since the company laid off a third of its global marketing staff in a post-IPO job purge. Those layoffs were described as an attempt by Uber to streamline operations and reduce spending. Given its staggeringly large loss in the second quarter, the layoffs could end up being the first of many to come if Khosrowshahi is actually serious about Uber one day breaking even.

Uber shares plunged to as low as $37.65 in after-hours trading after closing the day at $42.67 before recovering slightly to $40.30 as of 8 p.m. EDT, down 6%. Uber shares continue to underperform, sitting below the IPO day price of $45 per share, having only briefly exceeded that price June 28. Update: Shares fell almost 7% in Friday trading.

Photo: Financial Times/Flickr