Takeaway and autonomous driving will become the new battlefield for Uber and Lyft.
August 9, US network car company Uber released the latest financial report, Uber revenue in the second quarter was 3.17 billion US dollars, an increase of 14%, lower than market expectations, lower than the expected 3.36 billion US dollars, the lowest growth rate ever; The net loss was $5.24 billion, and the loss was higher than market expectations, while the net loss for the same period last year was $891 million, the largest loss since Uber began to disclose financial data in 2017.
Uber’s “earning less and losing more” this quarter is largely related to increasing investment in drivers’ rewards.
For example, Uber has previously launched a special rewards program for drivers Uber Pro. The driver accumulates points through daily driving services, and can enjoy free maintenance subsidies (such as free dent repair, 25% auto repair subsidy, etc.), ASU Online higher education tuition subsidy and daily allowance (such as Natural gas, airport priority, etc.).
Uber mentioned in the earnings report that is currently in the more than 50% of drivers in the United States have participated in the program. Outside the US, Uber Pro was officially launched in early July in three cities in Mexico and Brazil. In addition, Uber has partnered with Mexico’s largest bank, BBVA ( BBSS, to release a debit card for drivers.
In driving services, Uber launched the Uber Comfort program in July this year with the goal of providing a higher level of drivers and more comfortable vehicles, with specific services including quiet mode, temperature control and baggage assistance. It is currently being carried out in 44 cities in the United States and Canada, as well as in 8 cities in Australia.
However, the promotion of driving services and the promotion of driver incentive programs have not yet seen the promotion of shared travel business revenues. This quarter, Uber’s core car business created a total booking volume of $12.19 billion, exceeding analysts. The forecast is 12.11 billion US dollars, and the shared travel income is 2.348 billion US dollars, accounting for the total revenue.74.1%, a year-on-year growth rate of only 2%. Compared with this, the pre-sale business revenue was 595 million US dollars, although it only accounted for 18.8% of the total revenue, but increased by 72%.
In order to stop losses, Uber opened its largest layoffs in July this year. One third of the marketing department was abolished. At the same time as layoffs, Uber also opened up departmental adjustments to integrate the relatively marginal marketing and public relations departments.
On the other hand, Uber is also looking for other business growth points. Uber executives also said in a conference call after the release of the earnings report that next quarter will launch a new car-innovation business, such as carpooling and mass transit of large passenger vehicles (van/bus). During the quarter, Uber New York launched a helicopter “flying” service from Manhattan Helipad to New York’s JFK International Airport, with a fare of $200-225 per passenger. Uber’s continuous-plus-automatic driving business is still in the investment phase and is not yet profitable.
The earnings report released by Lyft yesterday showed that its revenue growth and active users have slowed significantly. Lyft did not give up the subsidy to drivers this quarter. This shows that the shared travel business structure has been stabilized, and the user and market growth space may have become saturated.
From the financial report, Uber and Lyft are the first and second companies in the US network. The competition still revolves around the market for drivers and passengers, but the difficulty of this competition is still expanding. In the value-added business built around travel, such as take-away, auto-driving business, the future will become the new battlefield of Uber and Lyft .