London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, May 29, 2026

Uber CEO: 'We are very, very, very different from WeWork'

Uber CEO: 'We are very, very, very different from WeWork'

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi defends the company’s business at The New York Times’ DealBook Conference on Wednesday. Khosrowshahi says Uber’s core ride-hailing business should shield it from experiencing a fate like WeWork’s. The stock has been under pressure recently as Uber’s post-IPO lockup is set to expire and it reported more than $1 billion in net losses during the third quarter.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi defended the ride-hailing company’s business Wednesday as its stock continues to tumble and it faces growing investor skepticism around its massive losses.

On stage at The New York Times DealBook conference, interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Khosrowshahi if he was happy the company had gone public in time to avoid a situation like WeWork’s. The embattled workspace company was once expected to stage one of the hottest initial public offerings of the year, but investors balked at its huge losses and unusual business structure. The company ultimately postponed its IPO and had to be bailed out by major investor SoftBank.

“We are very, very, very different from WeWork,” Khosrowshahi said. “Fundamentally the rideshare market is of scale, is global, is an attractive business, and it’s only going to get better in a competitive market.”

In fact, the companies share a number of similarities: Both count SoftBank as their largest investor, received early venture infusions from Benchmark Capital and show operating losses of more than $1 billion per year. Earlier on Tuesday, SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate headed by Masayoshi Son, reported quarterly losses of $6.5 billion, driven in large part by writedowns on its Vision Fund’s investments in both companies.

On stage, Khosrowshahi acknowledged that Uber has felt the effects of a reckoning among public and private investors, wherein the “appetite for the unknown and high risk has gone down.” But he said it has “forced Uber to perform better,” as evidenced by the company’s announcement that it expects to turn an EBITDA profit in 2021, as well as an increasingly rational ride-hailing market.

He added that the core ride-hailing business essentially functions as Uber’s version of Amazon Web Services, which has become a major profit engine for Amazon, and should help Uber achieve profitability.

Khosrowshahi’s comments come as Uber’s IPO lockup agreement is set to expire on Wednesday. The event is the first time since Uber’s IPO in May that insiders can sell the stock, and analysts have warned it could put near-term pressure on the shares.

Earlier this week, Uber reported third-quarter earnings that sent the stock down nearly 10%. In its results, the company posted over $1 billion net losses for the quarter. On a call with analysts, executives dangled an attractive EBITDA profitability target for full year 2021, but many analysts continued to ask skeptical questions to probe for more details.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×