Uber on road to profitability as head of finance Gautam Gupta departs

Uber said its net loss in the first quarter narrowed to $708 million, from $991 million in the previous quarter

Mr Gupta is leaving in July to join another startup in San Francisco, the company said (Reuters)

Uber has reported that its head of finance is leaving, and that its first-quarter loss narrowed substantially from the prior quarter, putting it on a path toward profitability.

Head of finance Gautam Gupta is leaving Uber in July to join another startup in San Francisco, making Gupta the latest high-profile executive to quit the privately held ride-hailing company.

Uber, which has been rocked by several high-level departures in the past few months as it grapples with a series of controversies, has been looking for a chief operating officer to help change its now-notorious “bro” culture.

Gupta's exit sets the stage for a second major executive search: now for a chief financial officer who has public company experience.

About a dozen top executives have left Uber since February.

On Tuesday, the company fired Anthony Levandowski, the technology whiz it had hired to lead its self-driving unit, after he failed to comply with a court order to hand over documents at the centre of a legal dispute between Uber and Alphabet's Waymo unit.

Uber reported on Wednesday that its net loss in the first quarter (excluding employee stock compensation and other items) narrowed to $708m, from $991m in the fourth quarter.

As a private company, Uber does not report its financial results publicly, but at times it has confirmed figures reported in the media.

Uber said its first-quarter revenue rose 18 per cent to $3.4bn from the fourth quarter.

“The narrowing of our losses in the first quarter puts us on a good trajectory towards profitability,” an Uber spokesperson said in an email.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Wednesday.

Reuters