SAN FRANCISCO — Uber Technologies Inc. delivered a mixed but ultimately robust scorecard for the final quarter of 2025, reporting revenue that topped Wall Street estimates thanks to a continued surge in its delivery division. However, shares dipped in premarket trading Wednesday as investors digested a slight miss in the core ride-hailing business and a significant drop in net income tied to equity revaluations.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, the San Francisco-based gig economy giant reported revenue of $14.37 billion, a 20% increase from the $12 billion reported in the same period a year prior. The figure narrowly edged out the $14.32 billion consensus estimate compiled by LSEG.
Despite the top-line beat, the market reaction was tepid. Uber shares, which had rallied significantly throughout 2025, were down approximately 4% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The stock has struggled to find momentum in the early weeks of 2026, currently down about 5% year-to-date as traders reassess valuations across the tech sector.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi remained bullish, particularly regarding the company’s “Go Get” strategy and its pivot toward an autonomous future. In prepared remarks, Khosrowshahi emphasized that the company’s investments in autonomous vehicle (AV) partnerships are beginning to crystallize into a tangible business model.
“Based on what we are seeing in autonomous vehicles, we are more convinced than ever that it’s a multitrillion-dollar opportunity,” Khosrowshahi said, signaling that 2026 could be a pivotal year for the integration of robotaxis into the Uber network.
Financial Breakdown: The Tale of Two Segments
The fourth-quarter report highlighted a diverging narrative between Uber’s two primary engines: Mobility (rides) and Delivery (Eats, grocery, and retail).
Mobility: The core ride-hailing business generated $8.2 billion in revenue, marking a 19% increase year-over-year. While historically the company’s most profitable segment, this figure fell short of the $8.3 billion analysts had projected. The slight miss suggests that while travel demand remains healthy, the explosive post-pandemic “revenge travel” growth curve may be flattening as the global economy settles into a more normalized rhythm in 2026.
Delivery: If Mobility was the steady workhorse, Delivery was the racehorse. The segment posted revenue of $4.9 billion, climbing 30% from a year ago and handily beating the $4.72 billion expected by analysts. This 30% growth rate is particularly impressive given that it comes on top of difficult year-over-year comparisons. It validates Uber’s aggressive expansion beyond restaurant takeout into high-frequency categories like grocery, alcohol, and retail delivery.
Gross Bookings: The total value of all transactions on the platform—gross bookings—reached $54.1 billion for the quarter. This topped the average analyst estimate of $53.1 billion, indicating that despite inflationary pressures, consumers are still spending heavily on convenience.
Earnings per Share (EPS): On an adjusted basis, Uber reported earnings of 71 cents per share, aligning with the broader profitability narrative the company has cultivated over the last three years.
The Profitability Picture and Equity Headwinds
While revenue soared, the bottom-line figures showed volatility. Net income for the fourth quarter was $296 million, a stark contrast to the $6.88 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2024.
However, headline comparisons can be deceiving. The previous year’s massive profit was largely driven by one-time tax benefits and unrealized gains in equity stakes. Conversely, this quarter’s net income was dragged down by a $1.6 billion “net pre-tax headwind from revaluations of our equity investments,” Uber stated.
Uber holds significant stakes in other transportation and technology companies globally, including Aurora Innovation, Grab, and Didi. Fluctuations in the valuations of these holdings often introduce noise into Uber’s GAAP net income, obscuring the operating reality of the business. When stripping away these investment fluctuations, the company’s operating income continues to show the leverage of its platform, with EBITDA margins steadily expanding.
Delivery: From “eats” to “Everything”
The star of the Q4 report was undoubtedly the Delivery arm. Once viewed by skeptics as a pandemic-era bubble, the unit has proven to be sticky and increasingly essential to Uber’s growth story.
The 30% revenue jump was fueled by a strategic broadening of what can be delivered via Uber. No longer just a conduit for Friday night pizza, Uber has successfully integrated into the weekly routine of millions of households through grocery and retail partnerships.
“The delivery business is evolving from a luxury to a utility,” said a senior analyst at Forrester Research. “By integrating grocery and retail, Uber has increased the frequency of app opens, which in turn drives membership in Uber One.”
The earnings report highlighted several key international partnerships that drove volume in Q4:
- Loblaws (Canada): A deepened integration with Canada’s largest grocer.
- Biedronka (Poland): Expansion in the Central European market.
- Seiyu (Japan): Strengthening the foothold in a market that was historically difficult for foreign tech firms to crack.
- Coles (Australia): A major partnership down under that has solidified Uber’s dominance in the region.
- Shopify & OpenTable: New integrations that allow merchants to use Uber’s logistics network more seamlessly.
These partnerships are critical to Khosrowshahi’s vision of Uber as the operating system for local commerce. The integration with Shopify, in particular, points to a future where Uber Direct (the white-label delivery service) competes directly with traditional logistics carriers for same-day retail delivery.
The Autonomous Horizon
Perhaps the most intriguing commentary from the earnings call revolved around Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). For years, the narrative around Uber and AVs was one of existential risk—the fear that a robotaxi network like Waymo or Tesla would undercut Uber’s driver-based model.
However, in 2025 and moving into 2026, Uber has successfully repositioned itself as a partner rather than a competitor.
“We are the demand layer for the AV industry,” Khosrowshahi explained during the call.
By partnering with AV hardware manufacturers, Uber allows these companies to plug their expensive robotaxis into a network with massive, instant demand. This strategy allows Uber to transition to autonomous rides without carrying the heavy balance sheet risk of manufacturing cars or maintaining a massive fleet.
Khosrowshahi’s reference to a “multitrillion-dollar opportunity” suggests that the company expects a significant portion of its gross bookings to shift toward autonomous rides in the latter half of the decade, potentially drastically lowering the cost per mile and expanding the total addressable market for ride-hailing.
Outlook: Strong Start to 2026
Looking ahead, Uber provided optimistic guidance for the first quarter of 2026. The company expects gross bookings to range between $52 billion and $53.5 billion. At the midpoint, this would represent a year-over-year increase of at least 17%.
This guidance suggests that the momentum from the holiday quarter is carrying over into the new year, despite macroeconomic uncertainties.
Market Context: Why the Stock Dip?
If the numbers were good, why is the stock down?
Wall Street is a forward-looking machine, and two factors likely contributed to the premarket sell-off:
- The Mobility Miss: Even though it was a small miss ($8.2B vs $8.3B), Mobility is the highest-margin segment. Any sign of deceleration there worries investors about future profitability.
- Valuation Concerns: After a massive run-up in 2025, Uber shares are priced for perfection. A “beat and raise” is often required just to keep the stock flat. A mixed report, complicated by a $1.6 billion equity hit, gave traders an excuse to lock in profits.
Conclusion
Uber’s fourth-quarter performance reinforces its status as the dominant global player in the gig economy. The company has successfully diversified its revenue streams, insulating itself from weakness in any single vertical. While the Mobility segment shows signs of maturation, the Delivery business has found a second wind through retail and grocery expansion.
As 2026 unfolds, all eyes will be on how effectively Uber can execute its autonomous strategy and whether the “Everything App” vision can continue to drive double-digit growth in a world of high expectations. For now, the engine is humming, even if the stock price is taking a breather.