Uber CEO On What's Driving Accelerated Growth, Timetable For Profitability, AI Potential

Uber Technologies Inc UBER reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday showing strong bookings growth. 

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi detailed the company's acceleration following the print.

What Happened: Uber reported first-quarter revenue of $8.82 billion, which beat average estimates of $8.72 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The mobility company reported a quarterly loss of 8 cents per share, which beat estimates for a loss of 9 cents per share. 

Gross bookings grew 19% year-over-year to $31.41 billion. Mobility bookings were up 40% year-over-year, while delivery bookings climbed 8%. Total trips increased 24% compared to the same quarter in 2022.

Find Out More: Uber's Q1 Performance Gets 5 Star Rating, Zooms Past Expectations, MAUs Touch 130M

Why It Matters: In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Khosrowshahi said the company is seeing strength "across the board."

"Consumers are buying less stuff ... but they are going out to events, they're going out to restaurants ... and it's showed in our numbers," he said. 

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Gross bookings are expected to continue to accelerate in the second quarter as the company guided for bookings between $33 billion and $34 billion. That's a bright spot for Uber.

"You don't see that many large companies accelerating actually in terms of growth," Khosrowshahi said.

In terms of becoming GAAP profitable in 2023, "it's happening," he said. The Uber CEO didn't pin it on a specific quarter, but he confirmed that the company remains on track to reach profitability this year. 

Everyone wants to know about AI and Uber is leaning into the future as much as anyone, but the company doesn't plan to try to replace its workers, he said. 

"I think that companies can make a choice. They can either use less people to do the same amount of work or they can keep the same amount of people and do more work and our focus at this point is on the latter," Khosrowshahi said.

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He told CNBC that Uber is using AI to improve ETAs, pricing and other datasets globally, but it could be used for much more in the future. 

"We are just starting to understand the capabilities of AI and I think we are a long way from understanding its potential," the Uber CEO said.

UBER Price Action: Uber shares were up 9.16% at $35.74 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: TechCrunch from Flickr.