SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. – Uber is facing some bad news.
The popular ride-share app marked a $3 billion annual loss. Additionally, its fourth quarter showed a 2.3% slower growth rate than the previous quarter.
Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi is using his leadership skills to calm growing worry about the future of his company.
However, the company will be sharing price shares on Thursday. Notably, they are expected to raise $9 billion. Interestingly, this could bring the company up to $90 billion.
Unsurprisingly, getting rid of $3 billion in debt isn’t an easy task. However, analysts and insiders within the company believe they have an idea for a solution.
The solution does not involve simply adding more passengers to the app. Still, Uber executives insist this is the best solution. Actually, the better solution deals with a criticism many have.
Uber has lots of data.
Specifically, Uber collects trip data. In fact, one business person said that Uber has, “a wildly successful data collection on who uses it and how they use it and where they go…all this data can become profitable.”
Previously, customers and journalists criticized Uber for spying with geolocation data. Actually, Uber paid $148 million is a U.S. settlement case about a 2016 cover-up of a data breach.
However, experts say that now Uber can use its data collection for good.
They believe that collecting customer data can improve the company’s business model in the future. In fact, it can be similar to how Amazon tracks its customers’ data to predict future purchases.
There are many possibilities for Uber to use its data collecting for good. Let’s see if Khosrowshahi is up to the task.