Uber has come out with its financial results for the first time and it shows that the company is losing a lot of money.
According to the latest figures for 2016, the adjusted net losses were $2.8 billion, without taking into account the China business, which it sold last year, as per a Bloomberg report.
Even as the company claims that the revenue growth is outstripping losses, in absolute terms, the losses represent a staggering amount.
While gross bookings more than doubled to $20billion, net revenue stood at $6.5 billion, the report states.
In the last quarter of 2016, losses rose 6.1% to $991 million.
“While the rate of sales growth compared with losses is encouraging, Uber is still losing a significant sum. That’s a lot of cash to burn in a quarter," said Evan Rawley, a business professor at Columbia University.
Jeff Jones, the company’s president of ridesharing who resigned in March said, albeit jokingly, that he joined the company, expecting P&L (profit and loss) statement, but what he found was only L, the report adds.
In China alone, Uber’s losses were pegged at $1 billion forcing it to wind up its business there, while global losses stood at $3.8 billion.
Since its inception in 2009, Uber has lost at least $8 billion, the report says.
Besides, Uber has been facing a host of issues in recent months. Claims of sexual harassment at the workplace have seen the departure of top executives. Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo has filed a suit against Uber over its self-driving car technology. Even its CEO, Travis Kalanick, found himself in a spot after he was videotaped arguing with an Uber driver over falling incomes.