Uber losses hit £2.3bn but food delivery service is a ‘silver lining’

Uber feels a £2.3bn pandemic pain but its food delivery service becomes the ‘silver lining’

Uber’s losses ballooned to £2.3billion between January and March as coronavirus travel restrictions hammered its taxi business.

This was far worse than the same period of last year, when it lost £808million.

But boss Dara Khosrowshahi hailed its Uber Eats food takeaway service as a ‘silver lining’ during the pandemic.

In demand: Uber Eats sales jumped 50 per cent as people locked down all over the world turned to restaurant deliveries as a treat at home

Uber Eats sales jumped 50 per cent as people locked down all over the world turned to restaurant deliveries as a treat at home. 

The company is desperately trying to save more than £800million this year, including by cutting 3,700 jobs, or around 14 per cent of its global workforce. 

The ride-hailing app’s mounting losses came despite a surprise 14 per cent rise in revenues to £2.8billion.

But it blamed the coronavirus for having to write down the value of its investments by £1.7billion.

Khosrowshahi said taxi rides had fallen by 80 per cent in April – though it is seeing the ‘green shoots’ of recovery now as people began travelling again.