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Ride-hailing and delivery giant Uber Technologies has revealed losses in excess of US$1 billion in the three months to 30 September as its growth continues to stall.
Uber has reported growth in its bookings has risen by just six per cent in the quarter, which is its third quarter in a row of single-digit growth.
The US$1.07 billion loss was also a 20 per cent increase from the previous three-month period.
San Francisco-based Uber is now looking to expand its electric bike and scooter services along with food delivery as the decade-old business faces a period of slowing growth.
"We had another strong quarter for a business of our size and global scope," says Uber's CFO Nelson Chai.
Chai also flags the potential for a merger with India-based Ola to offset a slide in bookings growth and solidify Uber's position and market share in India and the Middle East.
As a private company, Uber is not required to disclose its financials but the company began disclosing some of its numbers last year.
Its gross bookings for the three months to September 30 were US$12.7 billion, up six per cent from the previous quarter which also represented a rise of 41 per cent from a year ago.
Uber's bookings growth hit the 30 percent mark in late 2016 but since then it has slowed rapidly into single-digit territory in each quarter.
The company, valued at $US76 billion, is planning an initial public offering next year and is under pressure to show it can still achieve its remarkable growth and market share to achieve profitability.
Japanese investor SoftBank took a 15 per cent stake in Uber in January which included a provision that requires Uber to file for an IPO by 30 September 2019, and if that doesn't happen then the company risks allowing restrictions on shareholder stock transfers to expire which would cause massive problems for Uber's ownership structure and value.
In the past 12 months, under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber has exited some unprofitable foreign markets and shifted the savings into scooters, bikes, food delivery and freight-hauling.
Uber Eats has been a star performer with US$2.1 billion in booking revenue, which is more than double the previous year, and Khosrowshahi has outlined plans to double its investment in freight-hauling which allows truck drivers and fleet managers to operate under its platform.
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