Ride-sharing company Uber has posted a loss of $1.07 billion for the third quarter of 2018. While not exactly good news, that’s actually a 20% improvement from the second quarter, though still a 27% downgrade from this time last year. Uber has been attempting to diversify into freight hauling, food delivery, and alternative means of transport, and has been hemorrhaging money as it attempts to work all of those pursuits to a profitable point.
Uber has also been facing pressure from foreign competitors in India and the Middle East. Over the course of the last year, Uber was forced to reduce its presence in foreign territories. The increased competition from businesses like Ola resulted in heavy losses, and expensive experiments such as a brief foray into self-driving trucks were indefinitely shelved. Also, as a proviso of an investment by SoftBank in January, Uber must file for an IPO by the end of September 2019. The required financial documenting and restructuring has been providing its own slew of headaches.
Uber’s current plan of action is to continue pursuing food and freight delivery, as well as expanding into publicly-available electric bikes and scooters. If things do not shape up, however, the company could be forced into a merger with Ola, who happens to share an investor in SoftBank, in order to keep shareholders happy.
