Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft both reported promising Q2 results this week, as they took advantage of a post-Covid boom in travel.
Uber posted its first ever cash-flow positive quarter. The Silicon Valley company has relied on heavily subsidized rides to gain market share and has burned through $25 billion since it was founded 13 years ago. In the three months to the end of June Uber generated $382 million in free cash flow, much higher than the $109 million Wall Street predicted.
The company still reported a quarterly net loss of $2.6 billion. Uber said $1.7 billion of that was attributable to poor performance of investments in self driving vehicle company Aurora and delivery app Zomato.
Uber also revealed the number of people driving for the company is at an all-time high. Concerns about the rising cost of living and inflation have pushed people to find new ways to make money, and almost 5 million now pick up passengers or deliver food for the company, 31% more than last year.
Uber’s competitor Lyft also had an impressive quarter.
Bucking the trend of many tech giants, Lyft just beat Wall Street expectations, posting second quarter revenue of $990.7 million, up from $765 million for the same period last year. Q2 was the highest quarter yet for the company, which also beat its Q1 results by 13%.
Lyft embarked on some fairly comprehensive cost-cutting measures during Q2, as it looks to combat inflation and increased economic turmoil in the months to come. The company closed its in-house car rental business and laid off nearly 60 employees.
Those cuts were not reflected on the Q2 balance sheet, which showed increased net losses. Lyft lost $377.2 million this quarter compared to $251.9 million last year and $196.9 million in the first quarter of 2022.