Uber reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, in which it posted a net loss of $1.1 billion. It was not quite as much as the previous quarter, when it lost $1.2 billion, or as stunning as Q2, which saw Uber lose a jaw-dropping $5.2 billion in just three months.
Overall, Uber says it lost $8.5 billion in 2019 — a sign of just how steep Uber’s path to profitability will be. That said, the company says it thinks it can finally eke out a profit on an adjusted based at the end of 2020.
Uber is still struggling to comply with California’s groundbreaking new gig work law that makes it harder for the company to classify drivers as independent contractors. It also lost its license in London after regulators identified a “pattern of failures.”
Originally, Uber said it was targeting 2021 as its first profitable year. In a call with investors, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he was challenging his employees to move the timeline for profitability up to the fourth quarter of 2020.