Uber report record 12 year ‘Gross Bookings’ high in March as demand for ride-hail increases
Uber Technologies, Inc. today announced that in March 2021 total company ‘Gross Bookings’ reached the highest monthly level in the company’s nearly 12-year history.
The company’s Mobility business posted its best month since March 2020, crossing a $30 billion annualised Gross Bookings run-rate, with average daily Gross Bookings up 9% month-over-month.
The company’s Delivery business set another all-time record, crossing a $52 billion annualised Gross Bookings run-rate in March, growing more than 150% year-over-year.
The company said in a government filing: “As vaccination rates increase in the United States, we are observing that consumer demand for Mobility is recovering faster than driver availability, and consumer demand for Delivery continues to exceed courier availability.
“On April 7, Uber announced that it is increasing investments in driver incentives to improve driver availability in the near-term. We continue to believe that Uber is on track to reach quarterly Adjusted EBITDA profitability in 2021.”
Uber announced on 16 March, that private-hire drivers using its Mobility platform in the United Kingdom will be treated as workers. Subsequently, Uber has announced a historical claims settlement process to UK drivers.
As a result, the company says it expects to record a significant accrual related to these historical claims and other related costs in its first quarter 2021 results. Consistent with Uber’s accounting practices, the majority of the accrual is expected to reduce reported first quarter total company and Mobility revenues and revenue take rates, but will be excluded from Adjusted EBITDA results, the company confirmed.
