Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) executives highlighted accelerating platform activity, strong cash generation, and a broader push into autonomous vehicle (AV) partnerships during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call. Management also discussed expanding customer use cases, ongoing delivery momentum, and a continued commitment to share repurchases, while announcing a CFO transition.
2025 results and platform scale
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the fourth quarter “was another great quarter,” with trips on Uber’s platform accelerating to a 15 billion annual run rate and the company’s audience growing to more than 200 million monthly active users. Those “healthy inputs,” he said, drove “exceptional outputs,” including gross bookings up 22% year-over-year in Q4.
CFO transition and capital allocation stance
Uber announced that CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah will step down on February 16, with Balaji Krishnamurthy becoming CFO. Khosrowshahi credited Mahendra-Rajah’s tenure with helping Uber achieve investment-grade status, launch its first share repurchase program, and navigate acquisitions. Mahendra-Rajah said he is leaving for “a new opportunity” where he could “serve America,” adding that he will work with Khosrowshahi and Krishnamurthy on a “seamless transition.”
On capital returns, Krishnamurthy reiterated a set of priorities: reinvesting in the core business, advancing Uber’s AV strategy, and considering selective bolt-on M&A—while still returning significant cash to shareholders. Addressing the company’s prior commentary around returning 50% of free cash flow, Krishnamurthy said Uber expects to remain an “aggressive” buyer of its stock, describing the shares as “really cheap,” and said investors should expect repurchases to continue at a steady cadence as the company works to reduce share count.
Autonomous vehicles: partnerships, utilization, and market impact
AVs were a central theme across the Q&A, with management arguing that autonomy expands the overall market and benefits Uber’s platform model. Khosrowshahi pointed to deployments in places including San Francisco and markets where AVs operate on Uber’s platform, such as Austin and Atlanta, saying Uber’s gross bookings have accelerated in those markets and that new rider growth and frequency have been strong. He described AVs as “net positives” that grow the “economic pie” for mobility.
He also contrasted Uber’s platform performance with standalone AV operations, saying AVs on Uber’s platform are seeing significantly higher utilization based on publicly available data. He cited:
- Trips per vehicle per day about 30% higher versus “1P standalone platforms,” according to Khosrowshahi
- Better ETAs for riders
Looking ahead, Khosrowshahi said Uber expects to be in 15 cities by the end of the year through partnerships that include Waymo, NVIDIA, Waabi, Avride, Nuro, and Lucid. He characterized AV unit economics as similar to other newer products: initially lower margins to build liquidity, with margins improving over time. However, he added that the deals Uber is signing today are expected to have “healthy economics,” which he defined as “positive economics,” at scale and based on current consumer fares.
Krishnamurthy added that investors often overestimate the concentration of Uber’s U.S. profit pools in major cities. He said 70% of the U.S. is outside the top markets, and nearly 75% of Uber’s U.S. profits come from those non-top markets, which he said have been growing faster than the top 20 cities. He also noted that 60% of mobility gross bookings are international.
Asked about the concern that AV could become “winner-take-most,” Khosrowshahi argued that while platforms often consolidate, hardware ecosystems tend to support multiple suppliers. He said Uber’s long-term view is that “10 years from now,” every new car sold will include L3/L4 software capabilities, and he cited a broad set of AV players developing solutions across regions. He also pointed to NVIDIA’s efforts around a hardware and compute stack that could become an industry standard.
Customer growth strategy and Uber One
Management tied growth to expanding products, use cases, demographics, and geographies. Khosrowshahi highlighted new products like Moto as an entry point for more price-sensitive users, with the potential to upgrade to other ride options depending on circumstances. He also pointed to use cases such as Reserve, which he said is attracting customers—often in suburbs—who previously did not view standard ride-hail reliability as sufficient for airport and time-sensitive trips. He said Reserve carries higher margins and higher driver earnings, while also driving customer acquisition.
Krishnamurthy added a quantitative view of audience growth, saying monthly active platform consumer (MAPC) growth accelerated from about 14% year-over-year at the start of 2025 to 18% by year-end. He said Uber ended the year with over 202 million monthly actives and an annual active base of over 450 million. He also said retention in newer rider and eater cohorts has improved versus prior U.S. cohorts, which he attributed partly to “early lifecycle investments.”
He noted that 40% of consumers in Q4 used more than one Uber product, and said the company’s membership program continues to be a key investment area, growing 55% year-over-year, with management measuring lifetime value to customer acquisition cost (LTV-to-CAC) as it invests.
Delivery momentum and advertising opportunity
Uber also addressed delivery growth and the advertising business. On ads, Krishnamurthy said the company is “very, very pleased” with momentum and that penetration in delivery advertising has surpassed a prior target of 2%, suggesting the long-term opportunity “is potentially much larger.” He said small business (SMB) ad penetration is higher than 2% and noted that enterprise advertising growth is outpacing SMBs, implying additional runway. He also said ads in grocery, retail, and mobility are “more nascent,” with room to expand.
On delivery, Khosrowshahi attributed accelerating growth to five main factors:
- Selection expansion, including further merchant growth, particularly in less dense U.S. markets
- Faster growth in less dense areas, where category position is lower than in large cities
- Newer products, including continued expansion in grocery and retail
- Membership, which he said reached 46 million members and is growing faster than 50%; he added members are approaching 50% of gross bookings
- International expansion, noting Eats is still earlier in its global rollout than mobility in some regions
Khosrowshahi also referenced specific grocery progress, saying Uber has “five of the top 10” grocery partners in the U.S. and pointing to a multi-year exclusive partnership with Coles in Australia.
Closing the call, Khosrowshahi thanked employees for “another great year” and reiterated appreciation for Mahendra-Rajah’s contributions, while congratulating Krishnamurthy on the CFO role.
About Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER)
Uber Technologies, Inc is a technology company that operates a global platform connecting riders, drivers, couriers, restaurants and shippers. Founded in 2009 by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick and headquartered in San Francisco, Uber developed one of the first large-scale ride-hailing marketplaces and has since expanded into a broader set of mobility and logistics services. The company completed its initial public offering in 2019 and continues to position its app-based network as a multi-modal transportation and delivery platform.
Uber’s principal businesses include mobility services (ride-hailing and shared rides), delivery through Uber Eats, and freight logistics via Uber Freight.
