Uber's Revenue Growth Slows Amid Headwinds from Fuel Prices, Tighter Driver Supply

By Kelly Cloonan

Uber Technologies' revenue growth slowed further in the latest quarter on weakness in its core ride-hailing business.

The San Francisco company said revenue from its mobility unit, its biggest segment, fell 2% in the third quarter as elevated fuel costs, tighter local labor conditions and competition for drivers prevented it from meeting demand in several international markets like India and Brazil.

Uber said it has responded to those pressures by investing in driver acquisition, retention and reactivation in markets where demand is outpacing supply, a move it said has led to signs of improvement in October.

Uber's delivery and freight businesses, meanwhile, continued to grow with revenue up 23% and 34%, respectively.

Overall, Uber's revenue rose 10% to $14.77 billion, slowing from increases of 12% in the second quarter and 14% in the first quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $14.66 billion. The company said changes in its business model in the U.K. hurt revenue growth by eight percentage points in the latest quarter.

Uber's gross bookings, which tracks the value of all rides and deliveries, climbed 20% to $59.82 billion, but similarly decelerated from the first two quarters of the year.

Trips, a measure of ride and delivery orders in the period, rose 16% year-over-year to 4.06 billion, as the company attracted more monthly active customers and those users bought its services more frequently.

Third-quarter profit was $512 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $6.63 billion, or $3.11 a share, a year earlier. The recent quarter includes a $476 million net loss from revaluations of Uber's equity investments, while the year-ago period includes a $4.9 billion benefit from a tax valuation release and a $1.5 billion net benefit from revaluations of the company's equity investments.

Adjusted earnings per share were 88 cents, compared with analyst estimates of 86 cents, according to FactSet.

Looking ahead, Uber said it would pump the brakes on its recent deal activity to focus on integrating acquisitions it has already announced. This year, the company has acquired chauffeur service Blacklane and parking app SpotHero, and announced deals to buy German food-delivery company Delivery Hero and catering platform ezCater.

Uber was also previously in talks over a potential deal for grocery delivery giant Instacart, The Wall Street Journal reported. Uber Eats' rival DoorDash last week announced its agreement to acquire Instacart for $17 billion.

As it looks to focus on integration, Uber said it expects minimal to no further deals through at least 2027, apart from investing in its autonomous vehicle strategy.

The company, which works with dozens of AV partners, said it plans to concentrate its spending going forward on a smaller group of partners where it expects the strongest returns.

For the current fourth quarter, Uber forecasts adjusted earnings per share of 95 cents to 99 cents. It also expects gross bookings of $63.25 billion to $65.25 billion, or up 18% to 22% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis.

Analysts are modeling adjusted earnings of 97 cents a share and gross bookings of $64.26 billion.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 04, 2026 07:10 ET (12:10 GMT)