Uber Technologies Stock

Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber) operates as a technology platform that uses a massive network, leading technology, operational excellence and product expertise to power movement from point A to point B.

The company develops and operates proprietary technology applications supporting a variety of offerings on its platform (‘platform(s)’ or ‘Platform(s)’). The company connects consumers (‘Rider(s)’) with independent providers of ride services (‘Mobility Driver(s)’) for ridesharing services, and connect Riders and other consumers (‘Eater(s)’) with restaurants, grocers and other stores (collectively, ‘Merchants’) with delivery service providers (‘Couriers’) for meal preparation, grocery and other delivery services. Riders and Eaters are collectively referred to as ‘end-user(s)’ or ‘consumer(s).’ Mobility Drivers and Couriers are collectively referred to as ‘Driver(s)’. The company also connects consumers with public transportation networks. The company uses this same network, technology, operational excellence and product expertise to connect shippers (‘Shipper(s)’) with carriers (‘Carrier(s)’) in the freight industry by providing Carriers with the ability to book a shipment, transportation management and other logistics services. Uber is also developing technologies designed to provide new solutions to solve everyday problems.

The company’s technology is available in approximately 70 countries around the world, principally in the United States (‘U.S.’) and Canada, Latin America, Europe (excluding Russia), the Middle East, Africa, and Asia (excluding China and Southeast Asia).

Segments

As of December 31, 2023, the company had three operating and reportable segments: Mobility, Delivery and Freight. Mobility, Delivery and Freight platform offerings each address large, fragmented markets.

Mobility

The company’s Mobility offering connects consumers with a wide range of transportation modalities, such as ridesharing, carsharing, micromobility, rentals, public transit, taxis, and more—helping customers go almost anywhere they need. The company’s global leadership position—and the vast amount of marketplace data that comes along with it—means that the company has the best technical and data platform to innovate faster than other companies with similar products.

The company’s scale and global availability allows its Mobility segment to offer better consumer experiences to riders in a variety of vehicle types, providing consumers with higher reliability and Drivers with better earnings opportunities. Mobility also includes activity related to the company’s financial partnerships products and advertising. The company also participates in certain regions through its minority-owned entities.

Delivery

The company’s Delivery offering allows consumers to search for and discover the best of local commerce—from restaurants to grocery, alcohol, convenience and other retailers—order a meal or other items, and either pick-up at the restaurant or have it delivered. The company refers to the grocery, alcohol, convenience, and retail categories collectively as Grocery & Retail. After launching the company’s Delivery app, Uber Eats, over eight years ago, the company’s Delivery offering increases consumer engagement with the Uber platform overall, which in turn results in broader reach for the company’s Merchants who can attract Uber Eats consumers from Uber without increasing their own costs. For Drivers, the Delivery offering leverages, and has expanded, the company’s earner base by increasing utilization and earnings across the network. The company also attracts new Drivers to the platform who do not have access to Mobility-qualified vehicles. Over the last several years, the company’s Delivery business has expanded to include Uber Direct, the company’s white-label Delivery-as-a-Service offering to retailers and restaurants around the world, as well as advertising opportunities.

Freight

Freight is revolutionizing the logistics industry. Freight powers a managed transportation and logistics network and connects Shippers and Carriers in a digital marketplace to move shipments while leveraging the company’s proprietary technology, brand awareness, and experience revolutionizing industries. Freight provides an on-demand platform to automate and accelerate logistics transactions end-to-end while providing visibility and control of logistics networks. Freight connects Carriers with Shippers’ shipments available on the company’s platform, and gives Carriers upfront, transparent pricing and the ability to book a shipment with the touch of a button. Freight serves Shippers ranging from small- and medium-sized businesses to global enterprises. By leveraging logistics solutions expertise and value-add solutions, Freight enables Shippers to create and tender shipments, secure capacity on demand with real-time pricing, and track those shipments from pickup to delivery. Freight operations are principally based in North America and Europe. All of these factors represent significant efficiency improvements over traditional transportation management and freight brokerage providers.

Platform Synergies

Platform

The foundation of the company’s platform is its massive network, leading technology, operational excellence, and product expertise.

Together, these elements power movement from point A to point B.

Massive Network

The company’s massive, efficient, and intelligent network consists of tens of millions of Drivers, consumers, Merchants, Shippers and Carriers, as well as underlying data, technology, and shared infrastructure. The company’s network becomes smarter with every trip. In more than 10,000 cities around the world (as of December 31, 2023), the company’s network powers movement at the touch of a button for millions, and the company intends eventually billions, of people.

Leading Technology

The company has built proprietary marketplace, routing, and payments technologies. Marketplace technologies are the core of the company’s deep technology advantage and include demand prediction, matching and dispatching, and pricing technologies. The company’s technologies make it extremely efficient to launch new businesses and operationalize existing ones.

Operational Excellence

The company’s regional on-the-ground operations teams use their extensive market-specific knowledge to rapidly launch and scale products in cities, support Drivers, consumers, Merchants, Shippers, and Carriers, and build and enhance relationships with cities and regulators.

Product Expertise

The company’s products are built with the expertise that allows the company to set the standard for powering movement on-demand, provide platform users with a contextual, intuitive interface, continually evolve features and functionality, and deliver safety and trust.

The company intends to continue to invest in new platform offerings that will further strengthen the company’s platform and existing offerings.

With the company’s platform, the company is making it even easier for its consumers to unlock convenience. In 2020, the company rolled out its ‘Super App’ view on iOS and Android, which combines the company’s multiple offerings into a single app and is designed to remove friction for the company’s consumers. During November 2021, the company launched Uber One in the United States as its single cross-platform membership program that brings together the best of Uber. Uber One members have access to discounts, special pricing, priority service, and exclusive perks across the company’s rides, delivery and grocery offerings. Since then, the company has expanded Uber One to approximately 25 countries. The company’s Eats Pass membership program continues to remain available in select cities as a subscription offering. The company’s membership programs are designed to make utilizing its suite of products a seamless and rewarding experience for the company’s consumers. The company exited 2023 with 19 million members for its Uber One, Eats Pass and Rides Pass membership programs.

The company is also utilizing its data and scale to offer marketplace-centric advertising to connect merchants and brands with the company’s platform network and unlocking cross-platform advertising formats. During October 2022, the company officially launched Uber’s advertising division and introduced Uber Journey Ads, an engaging way for brands to connect with consumers throughout the entire ride process. The company offers a model that enables brands to partner with Uber on a variety of advertising options on the Uber and Uber Eats apps, and beyond, while connecting with consumers in brand-safe and captivating ways. The company also provides comprehensive reporting and analysis, which helps brands fine-tune their understanding of consumers and create more impactful campaigns as they connect with consumers at relevant points throughout their journeys and transactions. During the fourth quarter of 2023, active advertising merchants exceeded 550,000. The company’s advertising further strengthens the power of its platform and will continue to do so as the company onboards more advertisers.

Government Regulation

Two examples of such regulations that have significant implications for the company’s business are the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (the ‘GDPR’), a law which went into effect in May 2018 and implemented more stringent requirements for processing personal data relating to individuals in the EU; and the California Consumer Privacy Act (the ‘CCPA’), which went into effect in January 2020 and established new consumer rights and data privacy and protection requirements for covered businesses.

The company’s subsidiary in the Netherlands, Uber Payments B.V., is registered and authorized as an electronic money institution in the support of certain payment activities in the European Economic Area (the ‘EEA’).

Seasonality

Mobility

The company typically generates lower Gross Bookings in its first quarter (year ended December 2023) compared to other quarters due in part to less usage of the company’s platform as holiday demand slows down. The company has typically experienced softer quarter-over-quarter Mobility trends in the first quarter.

Competition

The company faces competition in each of its offerings, including:

Mobility: The company’s Mobility offering competes with other ridesharing companies, including certain of the company’s minority-owned entities, for Drivers and riders, including Lyft, Ola, Didi, Grab, and Bolt.

Delivery: The company’s Delivery offering competes with numerous companies in the meal, grocery and other delivery space in various regions for Drivers, consumers, and merchants, including DoorDash, Deliveroo, Glovo, Instacart, Gopuff, Rappi, iFood, Delivery Hero, Just Eat Takeaway, and Amazon.

Freight: The company’s Freight offering competes with global and North American freight brokers and managed transportation providers, such as C.H. Robinson, Total Quality Logistics, XPO Logistics, Echo Global Logistics, Coyote, Transfix, DHL, and NEXT Trucking.

History

The company was founded in 2009. It was incorporated in Delaware in 2010. The company was formerly known as Ubercab, Inc. and changed its name to Uber Technologies, Inc. in 2011.