Travis KalanickREUTERS/Mike BlakeUber CEO Travis Kalanick.
Uber has been pushing to reach profitability in the US and Canada by the second quarter of 2016, and the company now says it’s made that goal, according to a new report by Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer.
Just how profitable? Citing previously undisclosed financial documents, Bloomberg pegsUber’s February US profit per ride at $0.19 (not including “interest, taxes, equity-based compensation for employees).
Uber takes 25% of the average fare, but most of it goes toward things like marketing, customer support, and software development.
Uber says that it booked 50 million rides in the US and 169 million worldwide in March,according to Bloomberg.
But Uber’s (conditional) US profitability doesn’t mean it’s making money everywhere. Uber is burning money in China, where it says it’s losing more than $1 billion a year. This has worked to grow market share, according to CEO Travis Kalanick, who said in March that Uber’s China market share has growth from 1% to 2% in January 2015 to about 30%.
Uber is not globally profitable, and it lost $1.7 billion worldwide in the first three quarters of 2015, according to Bloomberg.